Avatar: Unsung Heroes
by Autumnstar17
Summary: Ellire and Naka, a couple of con artists, flee to the Earth Kingdom to escape Fire Nation law enforcement. In her dreams, Ellire is visited by a mysterious spirit who offers to teach her a skill that has been lost over time: shadowbending. (Pre-Aang, original cast.)
1. Part 1: The Art of Conning

**無名英雄**

**Avatar: Unsung Heroes**

**艺术精读**

**Part 1:**

**The Art of Conning**

-x-

Ka-boom!

Along with a series of small explosions the array of fireballs burst open, spilling out their contents into an illusion of miniature fireworks. Bits of glowing ember rained down around the wooden stage for a brief moment before disappearing into nothingness again. The crowd below roared with delight as two girls took center stage grabbed each others hands, swinging them along into a bow.

Both dressed alike in color scheme, the first and slightly taller of the two girls had reddish-brown hair and hazel eyes that were slightly more green than brown. She wore a burnt yellow and white outfit, its edges contrasted with shades of pale red. Around her neck was a sky blue beaded necklace, its color matching that of the shorts she wore underneath a skirt that tied around. She was called Naka and, contrary to popular belief, actually an airbender. In fact, about half of their magician's act was based off of the illusion of having two firebenders when really one of the girls wasn't even a firebender at all. But more on that later.

Although hard to believe, Ellire was actually the oldest of the two and the real firebender in the performance. She had long, wavy brown hair with matching eyes and adorned herself with an orange headband, shoes, and sleeves. Her shirt and skirt were a matching shade of red, an image of blue and yellow flames climbing their way up towards the bottom.

The two benders exchanged glances, beaming as the crowd of onlookers continued to whistle and cheer. A red velvet curtain blew in front of them and they broke character, panting. Quite literally squealing with pride, Naka leapt forward and hugged onto Ellire, whose eyes widened in surprise.

"That was great! Did you see how many faces there were out there?" she exclaimed.

Ellire smiled back, wiggling her way out of her friend's embrace. "I did indeed. It's a good thing we didn't mess up."

"I don't know, the first couple of times we tried that flaming sword trick I was afraid you were going to burn the entire stage to the ground!" Naka laughed.

Ellire frowned. "Me? I just keep the thing lit and draw in the audience's attention; you're the one who actually keeps it up in the air and is supposed to bring it down safely so that I can-" The firebender paused, taking another glance in Naka's direction as she calmed herself down. "Y'know what, never mind. It was a good run back there."

Naka sat herself down on the ledge behind the stage as her partner jumped down next to her. "I still don't think it'd hurt to keep a couple of waterbenders nearby," she mused. "Just in case!" Naka quickly added after having received a stern glare from over Ellire's shoulder. She sighed and looked up towards the sky. "Hey, Elle?"

Ellire cringed. She'd never liking the nickname, but if she couldn't get Naka to cut it out in the amount of time that they'd known each other there was no use trying now. "Yes?" she answered, starting to pack several of their magic show's props back into a large truck that was set off towards the side of the makeshift theater.

"Do you ever wonder what Blaise is up to?"

Ellire froze, still bent over. "Pardon?"

"You know, Blaise," Naka repeated herself. "I mean, we haven't seen or heard from her in months now, so I couldn't help but... wonder..."

She stood up again, frowning. "Who cares? She got what she had coming."

The airbender tilted her head to the side, somewhat concerned by this unfeeling response. "Elle... that's not a very nice way to look at it. After all, she WAS our friend before we-"

"Friends don't tell other friends how to live their life!"

Naka had been cut off mid-sentence, her mouth still hanging slightly ajar. She closed it again, turning her attention down towards the ground. Ellire's hands had instinctively clenched themselves into firsts, glowing slightly as if she were preparing to launch an attack. After a moment of silence she loosened them again, the fiery glow vanishing back into her palms.

"I'm sorry. I... I didn't mean to snap like that. You didn't do anything wrong, Naka."

The younger girl shook her head slowly, still looking away. "No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have brought her up."

The truth was, the gang of street performers that currently travelled from town to town putting on a little magic show used to consist of one more firebender: Blaise, as ironic a name as it was (which could explain her love of corny puns). In fact, they'd been a trio for almost as long as any of the girls could remember until about a year ago, when Ellire and Naka had felt that she was beginning to act a little too much like the group's leader for her own good.

"Ellire! Naka!"

The silence was broken by the voice of a girl that had to have been a good several years younger than the performers. She came bounding over, her short, light brown hair and bangs bouncing as she ran. Her eyes were a clear blue beneath a pair of glasses and she was wearing a short green dress.

Silence.

"Those are your names... right?"

Naka jumped up quickly upon seeing the newcomer. "Um, yes!" she exclaimed. "I'm Naka, and this is Ellire. Or 'Elle,' if you think that's easier to remember."

"Call me Elle and I'll burn you from the inside out." Ellire replied flatly.

"Isn't she just charming," the girl mused sarcastically.

Naka shrugged. "Just give her some time and she'll warm up to you. Eventually."

Ellire twitched slightly in annoyance. "And you must be... Jin, was it?"

"Jairin," the younger girl corrected. Ellire shrugged carelessly. Close enough, as far as she was concerned.

Naka looked back and forth at the two, confused. "Wait. You know each other?"

"Yup," Ellire answered, giving a serious nod. "She's the daughter of that guy I was talking to this morning, Mr. What's-his-face."

"Cole."

It would seem Naka finally understood. "And we're staying with their family during our stay here, then!"

"By George, I think she's got it!" Ellire laughed aloud.

"Well, Jairin, did you get a chance to see the show?" Naka asked Mr. Cole's daughter who smiled, nodding her head energetically. "Did you like it?"

"Like it?" Jairin repeated enthusiastically. "I loved it! You guys were amazing! I mean, I've certainly seen benders such as yourselves before, but nothing like that!"

Naka was grinning ear to ear. "You think so?"

Ellire rolled her eyes. "Wonderful. You have fun talking with your new fan, Naka. In the meantime I'm going to go find out how much we made on that last performance. Maybe if we're lucky we'll have enough to pick up a meal tonight," she said sarcastically. "There's nothing quite like performing on an empty stomach."

"Oh! That's what I came to talk to you about!" Jairin gasped. "Mom and Dad wanted to know if you were coming over for dinner."

Both bender's eyes lit up at the mere mention of food. "Are you for serious?" Ellire asked doubtfully. "Are you sure that's okay with them?"

"Well, you kind of ARE our guests. I personally figure it would've been rude otherwise."

Unable to contain herself, Naka threw her fist into the air with glee. "Whoohoo! We're gonna get real food tonight, Elle!"

"Someone needs to calm down a tad," Ellire chuckled, rolling her eyes at Naka yet again. "In that case, I'm going to finish packing some stuff up over here," she informed Jairin. "We'll meet you there in a bit."

Jairin nodded before turning around and running off again in the opposite direction, waving back at them from behind her. "Okay, I'll tell them you're on your way!"

Naka stood watching her leave, an amused look across her face. "I like her."

Ellire turned back towards the stage distractedly. "Don't."

"Why not?" Naka wrinkled her eyebrows, confused.

"Because," Ellire explaining calmly, "it just makes things harder. Wouldn't you agree?"

With a clank of metal coins Naka pulled down the tip jar and peered into it, slightly disappointed. Given the size of the crowd she had half expected to see three times that many. She set it down, sighing to herself. "I suppose you're right. We'd best get ready for the second act tonight."

Ellire turned over her shoulder and their eyes met, glittering with a shared train of thought. "I see I've taught you well. After all, the real magic starts after dark."

-x-

That night Naka and Ellire found themselves sitting around a rather extravagantly laid dinner table with Jairin and her parents. Naka eyed the food longingly as she was forced to hold hands with everyone else around the table, a steaming warm main course teasing her from only a couple feet away.

"Amen," Mr. Cole said, opening his eyes again and lifting his head. The chain of linked hands quickly broke apart as the guests took the liberty of piling their plates high with more food than they probably could've even finished themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Cole exchanged worried glances but ultimately thought it best not to comment on anything.

"Oh! Thanks for inviting us over last minute like this," Ellire said through a mouthful of food.

Mrs. Cole smiled weakly in response to their guests' poor manners. "Anytime! My husband just loves travelers, don't you dear?" She placed her hands against his arm and smiled up at the man pleasantly.

"But of course," Mr. Cole responded. "It would seem we don't get a lot of visitors passing through these parts, so most people in town love seeing new faces. Particularly those of skilled magicians, such as yourselves."

Ellire blushed slightly at their host's compliment and now it was Naka's turn to roll her eyes in playful annoyance. Honestly, more often than not she wondered how both of their egos managed to fit into a room at the same time.

"And little Jairin was just so excited when she heard that your show was coming into town!" Mrs. Cole added, a cheery look on her face.

"Mom!" Jairin quickly shot a warning glance in her mother's direction, as if embarrassed to even admit to such a thing. Mrs. Cole laughed quietly to herself.

"Well, it's true!"

Jairin pouted as her father continued the conversation. "Y'know what Jairin said to me just this afternoon? She said she wanted to learn to bend just like you two!" Now Jairin tried to bury her face deep into her plate, completely and utterly embarrassed by those she called her parents.

On the other hand, both Naka and Ellire's eyes lit up at this statement. Naka couldn't help but want to clarify the meaning of it. "Wait, so you guys are benders, too?" Ellire sat back in her chair, squinting at the family somewhat. With their current attire they hardly looked dedicated to one specific element.

"No, just Jairin," Mr. Cole made clear. "She's an earthbender."

Mrs. Cole shook her head proudly. "I just don't know where she gets it!"

Jairin eyed both Mr. and Mrs. Cole distastefully, still looking a slightly pinker shade than usual. "It's not that big a deal, guys," she muttered under her breath, desperately wanting the attention to be dragged off of her so that they could perhaps learn more about the newcomers instead. However, that didn't seem likely with the way the conversation was going thus far.

Ellire pursed her lips smugly, perhaps sizing the earthbender up as if anticipating a quick battle with her later. Naka and Ellire weren't particularly great fighters, considering they'd spent years dedicating their bending mostly to the art of performing showy tricks, but for some unknown reason it made Ellire feel better to think that she could still take out a challenger or two if the time came.

Upon seeing this Jairin leaned back again, making a face. She couldn't tell what the firebender was thinking but regardless of whatever it was it still made her feel uncomfortable.

"So! Jairin!" Naka finally chimed in, clapping her hands together happily. "Have you been taking bending lessons or whatever young benders do these days?"

Jairin shook her head sadly. "She used to go to a little school here a while back," Mr. Cole explained, "but it shut down some years ago due to a lack of funding. As I've said before, there aren't a lot of benders in this town, after all."

"But we're still trying to find Jairin a new teacher," Mrs. Cole said determinedly. "She really does have the motivation to get better, and we'd help her if we knew how."

Then Jairin stood up excitedly and gasped, her eyes wide. Everyone else looked up at her, startled by the sudden movement. "Maybe Naka could teach me how!" she squealed.

Ellire raised an eyebrow. "Naka? Why Naka? She's not even an earthbender!"

Sitting down again and scooting her chair in, Jairin attempted to explain her epiphany. "I know that. I just figured, well, when you get down to the really basic stuff bending's pretty much the same, just with different elements. Right?"

"Wrong."

"And if that's true, then even if Naka can't earthbend I can still learn from her firebending!" Jairin smiled in Naka's direction, expecting some kind of encouragement.

Ellire merely shook her head. "If that were true then why ask Naka to do it? I'm older, anyway. I could probably teach you just as well if not better."

Naka glared at Ellire, muttering under her breath, "Are you seriously jealous?"

"No! Of course not," she whispered back sourly and looked up at Jairin again. "But really. Why does it have to be Naka?"

Jairin shrugged thoughtfully. "No particular reason."

"Seriously. Tell me."

"No! Don't worry about it."

"You tell me right-"

"Okay!" Jairin finally gave in. "She just sorta comes off as... I don't know, a nicer person than you?"

"...That's it." Ellire tried to stand up, an angry look flashing across her face, when Naka grabbed her arm and pulled her down into her seat again. Looking distatefully at Naka, Ellire flipped some of her hair back and tried a new approach. "Look, kid, I didn't want to crush all of your hopes and dreams... but even if Naka wanted to teach you, she can't."

"Why not?" It would seem both Naka and Jairin had asked this at the same time.

"Because," Ellire continued as matter-of-factly as she could, "Naka's not a firebender. If you must know, she's not even a bender at all!"

She then winced at a hard kick from under the table and glared back at Naka, whose disapproving face seemed to be asking where exactly she thought she was going with this. She shrugged, wanting the airbender to get off her back.

Jairin looked hurt. "W-What? But, that's not possible... I saw her firebend! I saw it with my own eyes!"

Picking up her fork, Ellire took another bite calmly. "That's why it's called a magic trick. I'd hate to give away all of our secrets, as I think there's some sort of magician's code about it or whatever, but the fact that Naka can't bend is half of the illusion right there. It's all very complicated; I'd love to explain further, but I doubt you'd be able to keep up."

Jairin turned her attention to Naka, who for the most part had been sitting there quietly. "Is this true?" she asked.

Naka looked up at Ellire, who didn't say anything. She didn't like the idea of lying to Jairin, but it wasn't exactly like she could go back and fix it now without causing any more problems. "Yes," she said, burying her chin in her hands.

Frowning disappointedly, Jairin hunched over in her seat, pressing an arm against her cheek and the table. She picked up a fork and began poking around at her plate, her appetite suddenly gone.

Mrs. Cole looked at her daughter worriedly. "Jairin, dear, you shouldn't let yourself get so upset over that. I'm sure that Ellire would make just as good a teacher."

"You should at least try finishing your food," Mr. Cole commented as well. "Playing around with it isn't helping anyone."

Jairin put her silverware down on top of her plate and sighed. "It's fine. I'm not hungry anymore." She then got up and hurried up a flight of stairs behind her, making her way towards her room.

Mr. Cole frowned. "Jairin! You weren't dismissed, young lady! And you forgot to clear the table on top of everything!"

"It's all right, I'll take care of it." Mrs. Cole said, standing up with her empty plate in one hand and picking up Jairin's in the other. Mr. Cole got up as well and followed her into the kitchen.

"Here, let me help."

As the married couple disappeared into the other room the place suddenly seemed much more quiet, Naka and Ellire left alone to stare at each other awkwardly. Finally Naka decided to break the silence.

"Stop giving me that look, Elle."

Ellire cocked her head to the side. "What look? I'm not giving you a look."

"Yes, you are. You're giving me that look that clearly says 'well, I didn't do anything wrong back there' when, yes, obviously you did!" Naka threw her napkin down over the plate. "Seriously, Elle? Did you really have to go and tell Jairin that I wasn't a bender? I mean, what good did it prove?"

"I don't know!" Ellire admitted, shrugging. "I just sort of panicked, okay? And what would've happened if you had agreed to teach her?"

"Then she would've figured out I was actually an airbender and it would change nothing!"

"Are you stupid? Of course it would!" Ellire paused, unsure of how she was to get through to Naka's thick head. "You already know that we can't teach her anyway. Building up expectations like that and then betraying her later would've been even crueler... I just said what I thought would make it easiest."

Naka continued to shoot daggers at Ellire, unconvinced. "You know, for someone who claims to hate Blaise as much as you do, you sure do act a lot like her!"

There was a loud crashing sound as Ellire jumped up, shoving the chair out from behind her. "Say that again!" she challenged, her eyes seeming to glow a faint red. "I don't know about you, Naka, but all I've done since we got rid of her is try to look out for you. For both of us!"

Naka shook her head slowly, immediately regretting what she'd said. "I know. I know, you're right. The last thing we need to be doing right now is fighting."

Ellire sighed, allowing herself to calm down some as her eyes faded back to their normal color. She looked down towards the floor, feeling somewhat ashamed at herself for having snapped like that twice in one day. "No... I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to say something like that in the first place, anyhow. Next time I'll let you answer for yourself."

"Wouldn't matter," Naka said. "You were just doing what you thought was best. It's not like we'd be around to teach her, even if we wanted to." She lifted her head to Ellire, who was still standing, a serious look on both of their faces. "You're absolutely right. The second we stop getting along we have nothing, so... no more fighting?"

Ellire smiled. "No more fighting. I promise."

"Me too!" Naka said, getting up and hugging onto Ellire, who attempted to place her hand over Naka's head affectionately but quickly realized that it was more trouble than it was worth, being the shorter of the two, and had to settle with just hugging back this time instead.

"You should get some sleep," Ellire whispered. "It's been a long day."

"But what about you? Aren't you tired?"

"Don't worry; I'll probably pass out in the wagon on their drive back out, if that's okay with you." Naka tried to stifle a yawn, grateful for her friend's offer. "Shall I wake you up at midnight, then?"

"Midnight it is," Naka confirmed, stepping out of their embrace.

-x-

Somewhere in the Fire Nation, Chief of Police Kumi stood leaning against the wooden railing to a small balcony outside of the police station. In front of her stretched a black ocean, the three quarters of the moon left visible reflecting eerily against its smooth surface.

The firebending official was clad in primarily red and black armor, her dark brown hair tied up tightly into a bun, save two long strands that stuck out of the front and faded into a lighter red color. She adjusted the tiny spectacles on her face, frowning.

"Blaise... precisely how long did you intend on standing there before either of us said anything?" Kumi asked sarcastically, hardly bothering to turn her head around.

Sure enough, another figure stood just outside the doorway to the moonlit balcony, her hands fidgeting around awkwardly behind her back. She looked a bit younger than Kumi, but not by much and wore a short pink tank top over orange pants that were several sizes too large for her, bagging out at the sides. Several small red ribbons were tied around her wrists and being used as a belt and like Kumi, she also wore a pair of glasses with light brown hair that went some ways down past her shoulders.

"Um..." Blaise looked over her shoulder nervously. As much as she tried to keep herself from becoming intimidated in the older firebender's presence, it certainly wasn't easy. Most of the Fire Nation had developed a habit of referring to the Chief of Police as 'Old Ironfire' for that very reason, although they wouldn't dare to say so to Kumi's face.

Still not bothering to turn around, Kumi rolled her eyes, already bored with waiting for Blaise's excuse. "What do you want?" she sighed.

Blaise stood up straight again. "Oh! Well, uh, I couldn't help but notice that you've been acting a little... well, stressed, I suppose, as of late. So there's that. And I also was kind of sort of wondering if you happened to have received any news pertaining to the current location of a certain two con artists... if that's okay with you?"

Finally turning to face Blaise, Kumi lifted an eyebrow. "Would these two con artists by any chance have any sort of relation to the girls that you promised to lead me and my forces to in exchange for your freedom?"

Shifting her head back and forth in thought Blaise finally answered, "I think that would be a fair assumption."

Suddenly Kumi leapt forward, pinning Blaise against the wall angrily with her arm. "Do you think this is funny?" she hissed. "It's been nearly an entire month since we brought you in, and we're not a single step closer to finding your ex-partners in crime! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have you placed behind bars this very moment!"

Smiling weakly, Blaise took a hold on Kumi's arm and brought it down slowly, their eyes still fixed on each other distrustfully. "Now, that's not very fair, Chief. After all, I did point you in the right direction... sort of. That is to say, at least I stopped you from looking in exactly the WRONG direction. If you know what I mean."

Kumi's expression didn't change. "I never know what you mean... idiot. Why can't you just stop being a smartass and admit that you have no idea where they are or where they're going?"

"Because, see, that would be BENDing the truth just a tad, wouldn't it?" Blaise grinned up at Kumi, somewhat surprised to see her lack of a reaction yet again. "Get it? Bending? Like, because we're benders?"

Beat.

She proceeded to explain the bad pun: "Okay, so you know what 'bending the truth' means. As in, you'd be sli-"

"Would you just shut up!"

Blaise fell silent again, cupping her hand over her mouth as Kumi turned away, pacing in the opposite direction. "God! You and your ridiculous sense of humor all the time! Life isn't some big joke."

"Look, I didn't mean to imply tha-"

Kumi spun around in place, shooting an icy glare in Blaise's direction. Blaise mimed a lock and key motion across her mouth, stuffed the invisible 'key' into her shirt and then gave the Chief of Police a thumbs up, as if cueing her to continue. Kumi sighed again and picked up where she had left off.

"I'm a woman of action, Blaise. I don't like to wait for things and honestly, that's the only thing you've seemed to accomplish in the time that you've been with us: make me wait. So I think I'm going to propose a new deal for you, and it'd be in your best interests to accept..."

Blaise gulped. She wasn't sure where this was going, but if her and Kumi's goals were similar she hoped it wouldn't be anything too bad. After all, how often did one have to opportunity to get their revenge while still working under the law?

"You have four weeks," Kumi decided.

Blaise reached into her shirt once again and proceeded to act out unlocking her mouth to respond. "I can do it in two."

"All right, then. Two weeks."

Kumi squinted at Blaise, somewhat confused as to why she would bother arguing a worse deal for herself, but ultimately decided against questioning it for fear of instead receiving another bad pun as an explanation.

"Two weeks," Kumi repeated, "and if I don't catch a glimpse of those two in that amount of time then I am taking back my offer and will have my men arrest you in their place. Are we clear?"

"I thought you said that my charges no longer appl-"

"I said are we CLEAR?"

Blaise began nodding quickly. "Uh-huh! I mean, yes Chief!" She quickly saluted the Chief of Police, hoping that was how she was expected to respond and not just embarrassing herself further.

"Good," Kumi responded, still unconvinced. "I intend to have wanted posters spread as far the Earth Kingdom in the next couple of days. Hopefully that'll get someone to tip us off and you can start from there."

"And then I can take some of the police and go hunt them down myself?"

Kumi practically laughed out loud, which is certainly saying something for her. "No. I want to keep a close eye on you during this wild armadillogoose chase."

-x-

"Psst! Ellire!"

The firebender groaned softly and began to mumble something in her sleep before shifting onto her other side. Naka sat cross-legged on the floor beside her friend's bed, Ellire's back now facing her. She frowned and stood up, jabbing Ellire against her side.

"Elle!" she whispered, continuing to prod and poke her. "Dammit, Ellire, you promised you'd be the one waking me up!"

Naka grabbed a pillow from next to the still-sleeping girl and slammed it against her face. For a moment there she thought it had worked, too, as Ellire stretched her arms out to the sides with a loud yawn, for whatever reason lifting her leg at the same time. However, instead of opening her eyes and sitting up Ellire then proceeded to reach out and pull the pillow out of Naka's grasp, curling up into a tight ball around it.

Naka pulled all of the blankets off of Ellire at once. Still no desired response.

Now, this really began to frustrate Naka, who it turns out wasn't used to playing the responsible one and quite frankly had decided that she wasn't a fan of it, either. A mischievious smile spreading across the airbender's face. Slowly she rolled her sleeves up over her elbows and held her arms out in front of her.

A sudden gust of wind blew Ellire into the air, pillow and all, and then relocated the firebender directly over the hard floor. There she hovered for a brief moment before being unceremoniously dropped.

There was a loud thunk followed by a stream of unpleasant muttering. Naka ducked down and pressed herself against the ground, wary of Ellire's next course of action against her.

Meanwhile, Ellire had just finished realizing what had happened and blinked in surprise, rubbing the back of her head with one hand. She then leapt halfway onto the bed, preparing to have a stern word with Naka when she realized that she couldn't even see the other girl at all. Pulling her way across the rest of the bed sideways Ellire popped her head over its edge, now spotting the culprit.

"You said midnight?" Naka said, smiling as innocently as she could.

"Yeah, well." Ellire slit her eyes towards Naka, remembering to keep her voice low. "At the last minute I decided I needed my beauty sleep."

Naka raised an eyebrow mockingly. "Beauty sleep, eh? If that's what you're calling it then I'd suggest about 24 hours to improve your case."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that last snide remark. Now, could you do me a favor and toss me our bags? We don't have a lot of time, especially if you accidentally woke somebody up with your little stunt back there."

Naka nodded. She picked up two large sacks from the ground and tossed one in Ellire's direction, using a small gust of wind to blow it directly into her partner's hand.

"There's nothing valuable in here," Naka said. "I suggest we head downstairs first. Unless, of course, you particularly fancy that lamp over there."

Ellire followed Naka's gaze to see an ornate lamp that was a deep green shade with golden trim. "You know what," she replied, "I think I do. I'm keepin' it!" And with that she lifted the glass thing and slid it off of its nightstand and into her brown sack.

Holding her hand over her mouth, Naka tried not to laugh. "Suit yourself. I'm not gonna lie, I hope the silverware's worth more."

"I will admit those were some fancy-shmancy forks Mr. and Mrs. Cole had back there!"

Giggling as softly as they could manage so as to not wake up their sleeping hosts, the two crooks slipped downstairs and into the kitchen. There they began filling their bags with all sorts of things, some quite valuable and others really just more shiny than anything else.

It was just as Naka was trying to stuff a poorly folded tablecloth into an already too-full sack when they became aware of a third person watching them from halfway down the stairwell.

"I-I don't understand..." Jairin managed weakly, feeling a thick lump in her throat. Her eyes were wide with fear and hurt. "Ever since you got here, my family's done nothing but been kind to you. We let you eat from our table... sleep in our beds..." Eyes now beginning to water, it took all that Jairin had in her to keep from crying.

A wave of guilty slowly crept across the room. When it had spread all the way to Ellire she looked into her bag of stolen goods, trying hard to push away any regretting emotions in their attempt to surface. She sighed, still unable to meet the earthbender's eyes. "Well. This just got awkward rather quickly."

Not knowing what else to do, Naka set down her own bag and rushed forward to hug Jairin. And she allowed her to do so, too. At least for a good minute or so, after which point Ellire and Naka were almost horrified to see how quickly her disposition could change right before their very eyes.

"I'll kill you!" Jairin yelled loudly, throwing her hands forward and forcing Naka away from her. This was immediately followed by the crashing sound of a large slab of stone that had broken its way through the wooden floorboards and had begun lunging towards Naka, smacking her square across the chest and then proceeding to shove her quickly towards the other end of the room.

Just before colliding into the opposite wall, Naka summoned up a quick gust of wind and flung herself out of the danger zone, landing safely back on her own two feet. She clutched her hand over her stomach, gritting her teeth.

Ellire was too busy staring at Jairin in surprise to pay much attention to how Naka was currently faring. She trusted that her friend knew how to defend herself against a sudden attack. But even so, that little earthbending display hardly looked like an amature seeking out a new teacher.

Her current train of thought was distracted abruptly, however, when Jairin continued to fling out her arm, which now pulled out a series of bullet-shaped rocks from the stone protruding out of the dining room floor. Upon opening up her clenched fist, she unleashed the volley in the firebender's direction.

Rock after rock whizzing through the air and over her head like missiles, Ellire dropped to the ground, dodging behind a low counter that separated the kitchen from the dining room. At the same time Ellire's bag had slipped from her grasp, falling a short distance to the tile kitchen floor along with the sound of breaking glass.

"That better not've been my lamp," Ellire hissed under her breath. "I was actually quite fond of it!"

Cautious of another round, she rolled forward into a summersault. Unfortunately for her, she had somewhat miscalculated the distance between herself and the oven directly across from her and ended up smacking her back against its door.

Wincing in pain, Ellire pulled herself up again, keeping one hand against the counter for support. Nearby she saw Naka shifting back and forth smoothly in order to dodge the newest wave of stone projectiles.

"I could use a tad bit of help, actually!" Naka called back at her sarcastically. "Thanks for offering!" The majority of her attention still focused on keeping unscathed, she swung her arm around, sending a gust of wind directly at Jairin, who caught the beginning of the blast before stretching a sheet of hardened earth in front of her as a shield.

From the other side, Ellire stood up straight and lit up both of her hands with crackling flames. She flung the first fireball at Jairin, which missed entirely, flying past the side of her head. Ellire made it disappear nearly as soon as it had come into existence before the glowing embers had a chance to touch the staircase, kind enough to want to avoid torching the house.

The irony in this was that despite Ellire's attempts to keep the unusual battlefield relatively in order, the girl who lived there seemed to show no interest when it came to monitoring the destructiveness of her bending.

The second fireball that Ellire threw forward scathed across its target's left shoulder before sliding behind Jairin and disappearing like the previous one. She stumbled backwards while grabbing at the wound, but the second her fingertips touched its hot surface she pulled away with a gasp. It was at this point that Jairin completely lost her footing, reaching out towards the nearby wall as she fell. It didn't seem to do much, considering how she immediately slipped flat onto her back as a look of pain rippled across her face.

Ellire couldn't help but wonder just how bad the burn she'd left on the earthbender was. Either way, Jairin didn't look like she'd be getting up anytime soon. Throwing her sack back over her shoulder, Ellire made a run for the door. She noticed her back was still sore from moments ago and hoped that it would stop hurting soon, since there wasn't much that she could do about it for the time being.

"Hey, Naka!" she called from the doorway. "You coming or what?"

The barricade of dirt and stone had crumbled in on itself when Jairin tripped, and Naka stepped forward onto the collapsed rubble to get a better look at her. The girl was struggling to stand herself back up again and she felt half torn between offering out her hand to help her or holding her down with another blast of wind.

"Naka!" Ellire called again, getting impatient now.

Suddenly Mr. and Mrs. Cole came running downstairs. They stopped a little ways above their daughter and stared in horror at the mess, quickly putting two and two together. Panicking, Naka spun around and ran back to Ellire's side, hardly slowing her pace as she picked up her sack again.

As the two girls disappeared into the night, the family cupped their hands over their mouths and called after them angrily.

"Stop! Thieves!"

-x-

Sometime later Naka and Ellire had stopped deep into the woods for the night. Or morning, as it just well may be. Their large caravan sat parked in the dark a little ways away from a firepit that had been dug out of the ground and was surrounded by tall, looming trees. Across the thick fabric its side read:

_A Touch of Magic_

_starring Ellire, Blaise and Naka_

However, Blaise's name had been blackened out, likely Ellire's doing. A burnt, charcoal-colored surface remained where the word was once painted brightly, although still more or less readable.

Ellire dumped a large pile of broken sticks into the pit and easily lit them ablaze. Suddenly the campsite seemed so much more homely, the golden-colored flames now licking at the area around them and casting long shadows from the trees that spread out around the campsite's perimiter.

"Hey, Naka," she said, now pulling out a pair of heavy-duty sleeping bags from inside the wagon, still stuffed to the brim with the folded up performance stage and everything else that the duo may or may not have actually owned. "You coming? It's late, and I want to give us enough time to make it to next town before dark if we're going to sleep well into a good chunk of the day already."

"Yeah. I'll be there in a minute."

Naka was standing in front of the caravan, where their giant jackalope was crouched down comfortably, an orange glow reflecting off of its gray fur. Naka stroked its long, black-tipped velvet ear just below a pair of antlers.

"Good boy, Dandan!" she cooed. "I'll find you some nuts in the morning, I promise. I know you love those." Dandan made an odd clicking noise in the back of his throat as she patted its head and rejoined Ellire, who was squeezing into her sleeping bag beside the roaring campfire.

"Hey... Elle?" Naka asked softly as she crawled into her own makeshift bed. The dirt-covered ground was much harder and less pleasant than what she'd been sleeping on at the Cole's place, but she didn't say anything about it.

"Hm?"

Naka pulled the top of the sleeping bag up to her chin and continued. "Do you think it's worth it? This whole dine and dash business, I mean."

Ellire lifted her head a bit more to try to see Naka before bringing her line of vision back to the dancing embers only a foot or so away. Close proximity to the heat didn't bother her all that much.

"Why would you ask that?"

"Well..." Naka bit her lip, not entirely sure of where she was going with this train of thought. "It's just, everything Jairin was saying... It just got me thinking, that's all. I mean, it's true. All of it."

"You're not going to keep going on about that, are you?" Ellire complained, her back still facing Naka. She found it hurt less to sleep on her side after the whole oven collision incident.

"I just..." The airbender's voice trailed off as she stared into the night sky directly above her. She could only make out several stars shining in the distance. Perhaps one of them was actually a planet, explaining why it seemed to glow brighter than the others. The vast majority of the moon was blocked out by a tall pine tree to the side of her. Naka sighed.

"I don't know. I feel terrible every time. I understand why we do it. It's all we can to get by, just the two of us, but... They never asked for it. And I can't even imagine what it must be like in their situation."

Ellire shut her eyes slowly with the intention of getting back to sleep very soon. "Don't tell me you're getting soft, now. I don't particularly enjoy it, either, but you said so yourself: it's just something that we have to do." She paused. "I just want to help you... for us."

"Ellire... are we bad people?"

"Bad is an opinion," the firebender whispered back. "After all, I'm sure that the Coles wouldn't consider us the most exceptional house guests."

"But do YOU think we're bad?"

"...No. No, of course not."

Naka shut her eyes as well, forcing an unseen smile. "G'night."

"Night."

-x-

The following morning the majority of the vast Fire Nation police forces had gathered outside of the station in an orderly block. There was an unusual amount of mist about and the sky was a matching dull gray. The air was thick, foggy and cold, but the police (many of them being firebenders themselves) hardly seemed to notice the low temperature. Among the officials, all dressed in identical black and red uniform and standing up straight with their arms at their sides, Blaise stuck out like a sore thumb standing at the end of the first row.

However, Blaise hardly seemed to notice much less mind the way her light pink and orange attire clashed against the surrounding color spectrum. Perched upon her was miniature dragon, about the size of a hamster and a darker shade of lime green. She called her companion Aeron and he somehow possessed to ability to communicate with Blaise alone. Through her mind.

Blaise's attention was suddenly pulled in as Kumi exited the station, her black metal boots making a crunching noise against the field of small stones below her as she trudged towards a stage positioned in front of the mass of Fire Nation officials.

A hush lingered over the crowd as Chief of Police Kumi trudged up a small flight of stairs and positioned herself at the center of the stage and before a podium. There was nothing else at the podium to raise her voice or state who she was, but standing behind it made her feel important. What it did offer, though, was a small stepping stool hidden away from the public's eye in order to lift Kumi from the platform some inches more. She wasn't the tallest of people, therefore the concept of standing on something to boost her height often appealed to the high-ranking bender.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Kumi addressed the forces, her voice ringing out loud and clear. "Members of the Fire Nation Police Department and protectors of justice! As you all are well aware, it is very early on a Saturday morning. Perhaps you are wondering why I've called you here at such an inconvenient time. I don't suppose any of you have heard of an insignificant traveling circus called A Touch of Magic?" She scanned the crowd like a hawk searching out its prey as the police lifted their chins to her, listening intently. "No?"

Kumi cleared her throat before continuing. "Well then, aren't you in for a treat. In all my years in this position, not once have I come across a duo so deserving of punishment as these two girls. As the traitor from our own homeland, Ellire, and her accomplice Naka!"

Along with Kumi's declaration a large banner was unrolled from behind her depicting a large inked drawing of the two travellers from their chests up. In the picture Naka was sticking out her tongue playfull and had her arm around Ellire, who was holding up a peace sign with one hand and smiling. Above the image was the word 'wanted,' bolded and written entirely with capital letters, and beneath it was the description:

_Ellire of the Fire Nation_

_Naka of the Western Air Temple_

_Wanted for Thievery, Among Other Things_

_Reward: 350,000 Gold Pieces Each_

Aeron snorted out a thin layer of smoke out of his nostrils from atop Blaise's shoulder. He turned his attention to her, his face still expressionless.

Looks like Old Ironfire's serious about these two. That's a whopping 700,000 gold pieces altogether!

Blaise nodded slowly in response to the dragon's statement, still keeping faced forward. "Yup," she said nonchalantly. "That does seem like a lot for Ellire and Naka. At least, more than even I would want to pay to have them captured!"

Makes you wonder what her personal vendetta is...

"I don't know." Blaise merely shrugged. "Makes my whole revenge scheme seem like childsplay, whatever it is."

The soldier standing next to Blaise looked over, an uneasy scowl upon his face. This didn't come as a surprise to the firebender, considering the fact that others couldn't hear Aeron's voice for unknown reasons while with Blaise's they, well, could.

In a poor attempt to avoid the awkwardness of explaining this to the soldier whom she never expected to see again after this meeting, she simply decided to put her finger over her own mouth, shush HIM, and then turn attention back towards Kumi and point, as if saying that that's where he ought to be focusing and not at her.

"You've gotta stop doing that," she still whispered to Aeron. "The last thing I need is another reason for people to think I'm nuts!"

Aeron snorted again, a dark green eye focused on her.

As if you didn't do a good enough job of that yourself... Oh well. Don't expect me to stop speaking my mind for your sake, but if you choose to ignore me there's not much I can do about it. I don't bite... much.

Blaise rolled her eyes. "Have I mentioned how much you suck sometimes?"

At this point the nearby policeman, being utterly convinced that Blaise was having a full-fledged conversation with herself, had taken as many steps as he could away from her without touching whomever it was positioned on his other side.

Kumi then continued, hardly allowing Blaise any time to further embarrass herself.

"Do not let their outward appearances dissuade you," she said, holding onto the podium and leaning forward. "These benders are far from innocent! Perhaps they don't appear as bad as some of our previous targets, but I assure you, Ellire and Naka are nothing more than a nuisance to our society and therefore must be captured at all costs! I will not rest until someone has put a stop to their petty crimes once and for all, and that someone will be me!"

"Or me!" Blaise shouted out, shooting her fist into the air.

Kumi jolted her head in Blaise's direction, the interruption catching her off guard. "Um... no, it's going to be me. But I suppose you can help. A bit. And what are you even doing here anyway, Blaise?!"

Blaise lowered her hand slowly, suddenly worried that that may not've been the most clever move in the history of everything. "Well..." she began, feeling compelled to speak up so that Kumi could hear her. "You did ask me to attend, Chief."

"I know! I know I did, but..." Kumi rested her arm against the podium, using it to hold up her head. "God. Sometimes I hate your stinking guts just so much."

Isn't she something special. And quite a way with words, too...

"Shut up, Aeron. No one asked you."

"What was that? Did you just tell me to shut up?!"

"No!" Blaise called back, cupping her hands over her mouth. "I was talking to Aeron! My dragon!"

"Well then!" Kumi shouted, matching Blaise's volume. "Tell it to shut up!"

"That's what I just did!"

"Good!"

Oh, for the love of...

"Why are we yelling!"

"I don't know! Maybe if you'd keep your dumb comments to yourself I could continue at a normal volume!"

"Sounds good to me!"

The two of them stopped their little shouting match abruptly. The mass of police had begun to shoot each other worried glances, but Kumi and Blaise hardly seemed to notice. Chief Kumi cleared her throat once again.

"Now... where was I? Ah, yes: Ellire and Naka. Anyway!" She pointed to the sign behind her yet again. "My first plan was to have you broken up into smaller forces and then distributed throughout the many civilizations in the Earth Kingdom, where the tricksters are assumed to still be passing through. There you will be asked to put up these posters immediately, which will hopefully encourage someone who's already encountered them to tip us off. Otherwise I expect you to watch over the area for any signs of Naka and Ellire and, if spotted, to stay hot on their trail until you are able to bring them back to me. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Chief," several of the soldiers said out loud.

"I said, is that understood?" Kumi repeated herself, slightly louder this time.

"Yes Chief!" they all shouted back in unison.

Satisfied by this respond, Kumi stormed off of the platform once again where she stopping in front of another high-ranking officer, who stood at the foot of the stairs. "How soon can we sail out from the Fire Nation?"

"With the tide," the man answered confidently.

Kumi nodded. "Good. I trust you can get the men ready in that amount of time? I would like to have a word with the captains first."

The other official nodded, turning to leave. Kumi searched for Blaise in the now dispersing crowd, who still wasn't particularly difficult to pick out among the other identical uniforms. "Blaise!" she called, waving her over.

Blaise looked up, surprised, and pointed at herself for confirmation before walking over to the Chief of Police. "Yes... My Lady?"

"I want to..." Kumi's voice trailed off distractedly. "Blaise. Did you just call me your 'lady'?"

"Nope. Not at all."

"But I swear I just heard..."

"Innocent until proven guilty."

Kumi squinted in Blaise's direction for a while before dropping the subject. "Never mind. I said before that I wanted to keep an eye on you, therefore I trust you'll stay nearby from this point on."

"I thought you said you hated me?"

"It's going to be a long trip, I can tell you that much."

"So we're speaking with the ship captains before we depart?" Blaise confirmed, desperately trying to keep this conversation as minimally awkward as possible. After all, from the sound of it they would be stuck with each other for quite some time.

"Yes. Do me a favor and try to keep up and please, for my own sanity... do try to avoid unnecessary puns." With that Kumi began to head in the opposite direction, hardly waiting for Blaise to catch up as she followed the Chief of Police from a little ways away.

Aeron flicked his scale-covered tail in amusement. Do you really intend to play by Kumi's rules this entire time? From the looks of it you two can't stand each other, not to mention the Blaise I know doesn't take orders from anyone...

Blaise grinned mischievously, keeping both eyes straight in front of her. "And doesn't the Blaise you know also always have a backup plan?"

Oh?

"'Oh' indeed. I'll stick with Kumi, play by her own rules... for now. Once I've gotten as close to my old friends as I can with their help I intend to seek out revenge on my own." Aeron made a strange hissing sound, his tongue protruding from his mouth with amusement.

How intriguing. For both of our sakes, I hope you don't mess up again...

"Don't worry, I won't. Not this time."

-x-

"You don't look much like an assassin."

"That's the thing about assassins. When you are one you don't go around telling people."

"But you told me that you were an assassin."

"How do you know I wasn't tricking you? Maybe I told you that I was an assassin so you'd think, 'now there's no way that she can be an assassin' when I really was?"

Jairin finally threw her arms into the air in defeat. "But that doesn't even make any sense!"

"Look, kid, I've been in this business longer than you've been alive!" the other girl shot back defensively. Jairin merely shrugged in response.

"I seriously doubt it."

The two of them were conversing in the middle of a pub a little ways from Jairin's house. The younger earthbender had never visited it before, her parents having always warned her about encountering the wrong sort of people in them. As if to prove them right she'd managed to run into a self-proclaimed assassin on her first try, if that's even what the waterbender really was.

Jairin stood in front of the bar area. A foot or so away the older girl was leaning back on one of the bar stools, her legs kicked on top of the counter as if she'd not a care in the world. Dressed in Water Tribe getup from head to toe, she had ridiculously long brown hair held into a ponytail by a dark and light blue striped bracelet. Two sky blue beads pinned up bits of hair a little ways above her ears.

The waterbender was wearing a sleeveless darker blue shirt with long, pale brown sleeves put on each arm separately so that there was a gap where her shoulders were. She wore a pair of pale blue tights underneath a skirt that tied around and a pair of brown boots, their edges decorated with a water-like, swirling design.

"So can you help me or not?" Jairin asked again. She held out a bunnypig bank and placed it down on top of the bar's tabletop.

It took all of the other girl's will to keep from laughing out loud. "How much you got in there, kid? A couple copper pieces?"

"Nearly 500 silver," Jairin corrected. "Mostly from chores around the house over the years, but I've got more back at home if it isn't enough. And stop calling me 'kid'! The name's Jairin, got it?"

The waterbender made a face. Even a thousand gold pieces hardly seemed worth her time, but to be perfectly honest she wasn't having any better luck with other clients as it was. It had been months upon months since anyone had hired her for her services and sitting around doing nothing had left her incredibly bored.

"You can call me Rei," she replied, eyeing the bunnypig bank. "And I suppose I'll take the job. You can tell me the details later, but from what I've heard so far it doesn't sound like it'll be too difficult."

"Does tomorrow morning work? Same place?"

"Tomorrow's fine. Bring whatever money you have."

Jairin nodded her thanks at Rei before turning to leave. Perhaps she wasn't doing the most noble of deeds (or legal, for that matter), and behind her parents' backs at that, but the younger earthbender didn't care. It would all be worth it later; they'd have to understand. If all went as planned she'd have her stuff back in no time at all and the culprits would be getting the punishment they deserved.


	2. Part 2: Pursuit

**追求**

**Part 2:**

**Pursuit**

-x-

Jairin watched from just outside of her house as the waterbending assassin set off on her quest. For a brief moment she wondered how Rei even intended to catch up to Naka and Ellire, what with her travelling on foot, when a strange idea struck her.

"Wait!" Jairin called out, running over to where Rei was. Rei stopped where she stood and didn't turn to face Jairin until she was directly beside her.

"What now?" the waterbender grumbled.

Jairin gulped, suddenly afraid of Rei's answer to her newest request. "So... I was wondering if I could accompany you. Just until you finish the job."

Rei rubbed her forehead. "What do you mean, accompany me?"

"Well," Jairin began to explain herself, "I know I didn't mention this when we met before, but for some time now I've been meaning to find myself a bending teacher. And I know that we bend two different elements, but I thought that perhaps I could still learn a thing or two abou-"

The oldest member of the party practically burst out laughing, cutting Jairin off mid-sentence. Rei placed both of her hands on the girl's shoulders and looked her in the eye, attempting to come off as mature and adult-like as she could manage. "Look, kid - I'm sorry, Jairin: I'm no teacher, nor am I a babysitter. I work alone or I don't work at all."

But Jairin refused to let Rei's stern resolve dissuade her.

"You wouldn't have to do anything you don't want to," Jairin insisted. "In fact, you won't even notice I'm there! I can just follow a little ways away and try to pick up some things by watching your bending. I can bring my own food and spending money and-"

"I said no!" Rei snapped, interrupting the earthbender yet again. "I work alone and that's final. Now, perhaps if you were able to offer me something worth the extra effort I might start to seriously consider the offer, but in the meantime…"

"I can pay you double what I've already given you."

See, there are several key points that one must know to begin to fully understand a character such as Rei. The first of these would have to be that the waterbending assassin wasn't even an assassin in the first place, nor had she ever been or planned to before a person of that particular trade. What she was, instead, was a fraud and as such had developed a nasty habit of weaving together lie after lie in the past couple of weeks.

If you were to ask Rei to pinpoint the source of her new identity she would likely tell you that it had all begun after she was banished from the Northern Water Tribe for collapsing a dam that ended in the destruction of an entire village, through absolutely no fault of her own.

Okay, so that last part was a bit of a lie. As agreed upon by the majority of her former tribe, this incident in question was very much her fault, regardless of whatever good intent she had behind her actions. But more on that later.

Now the waterbender-in-exile, who was no more of an assassin than Jairin herself was faced with a difficult decision: to accept the extra money and let Jairin tag along in hopes of losing her somewhere, or she could refuse the idea and continue with the original plan. This mostly involved promising something that Rei had no intention of seeing through and then making off with the reward as if she really had deserved it in the first place.

To be perfectly fair, the biggest difference between the scams of Rei and those in A Touch of Magic was their methods of stealing. As opposed to taking things behind one's back, Rei instead waited to be offered the money and then stole it.

Rei closed her eyes and thought for a moment, prepared to admit defeat. Having Jairin tag along would only bring more trouble on herself, but after having spent the last month or so fleeing from the Northern Water Tribe on the back of her beloved spotted manatee she needed the extra coins. She'd only brought with her the clothing she wore upon her back, after all, and hadn't been having the best luck in making a living in the foreign Earth Kingdom.

"All right, fine! You win."

Jairin didn't appear to have heard her and kept on begging: "And I know that this is probably the least of your concerns, but just in case you're hesitating because of what my parents will think I promise I can write them a letter before I leave! That way they can know exactly where I am, just in case they decide to bring me back and ground me for the rest of my-"

"I said alright!" Rei repeated, louder this time. Jairin practically jumped in surprise.

"What? Y-You mean it? I really can come?"

"Yes," Rei crossed her arms. "I suppose you can just pay me upfront and I'll see what I can do." Jairin's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Oh, thank you! You won't regret this!" And with that Jairin bolted back into her house, a darker green skirt flapping behind her as she ran. But as Rei watched the earthbender disappear into the doorway she began to immediately regret her change of heart (more or less) and start contemplating just what to do from that point on.

On the one hand, Rei could always have used the extra cash. The only issue that this brought up was just how and when she planned on ditching Jairin after they set out together. Rei shook her head, pushing the thought away. She would cross that bridge when she got to it.

Even sooner than she had expected Jairin came sprinting back to where Jairin stood. Panting, she held out a rather impressive sack filled with coins. Rei took it.

"I was having trouble finding exactly 1,000 more silver pieces," Jairin explained, "so instead I put in about 500 and tried to make up the rest with about 80 gold. But I'm not so good at conversions, so then I threw in whatever copper pieces I could find around the house... I hope that's enough?"

If Rei had any prior intention to work for the money then no, it most certainly wasn't worth her trouble. But considering that she wouldn't be earning any of it Rei felt much better about taking the weak offering.

Without bothering to count the payment for herself, Rei took the pouch and dropped it into the leather bag that she kept swung over her shoulder. She took several steps forward, heading down the dirt pathway before her. "Just try to keep up, 'kay? I leave my dead on the trail."

Jairin's eyes widened at this. Just to be on the safe side she hurried forward, trying to keep in step with Rei and her quicker walking pace. Rei giggled softly to herself.

"That was supposed to be a joke."

Jairin forced a smile, starting to relax yet again. Rei continued talking, mostly for her own amusement. "Welcome to the Northern Water Tribe nature hike, kid - I mean Jairin!" She looked over her shoulder at the girl and showed off a crooked smile. "I hope you don't mind sleeping underwater."

Tensing up once more, Jairin almost began to doubt her own decision when Rei burst out laughing even louder than before.

"I'm sorry! Sorry, that was just too good!" Rei managed between giggle fits. "That was also a joke, if you missed it... God, this is going to be more fun than I thought."

The younger earthbender raised an eyebrow for a moment before sighing. She had been trying to figure a person such as Rei out for herself, but it was no use. Rei was just too unpredictable of a person.

They certainly were going to make for a rather amusing team.

-x-

"Six copper pieces."

"C'mon, six?!" Ellire shot back stubbornly. "You've got to be kidding me! That has to be worth at least twenty or thirty, if we're talking in copper!"

The shopkeeper remained as stern as ever, a serious look upon his face. "Perhaps if it were in mint condition when you brought it to me. But this!" He pointed an accusing finger at the counter that stood between the two of them. On it sat the ornate lamp that had once belonged in the guest room of the Cole's house. A large crack now split the glass thing cleanly down the middle and into two parts. "This is junk!"

"Oh, it's not that bad!" the firebender insisted, leaning forward and turning it to the side. "If you hide this part it's good as new!" The half of the lamp that was still left standing toppled over as the faint sound of shattering glass signified the light bulb smashing against the counter. Ellire smiled guiltily at the less-than-pleased shopkeeper. "How does twelve copper pieces sound?"

"Four."

"Oh, come ON!"

Suddenly a friendly hand was upon Ellire's shoulder. She shook it off, turning to see Naka standing beside her with a small stack of papers in her other hand. "Oh, Elle. I certainly hope you aren't giving another thrift shop owner a hard time."

"She was."

"Not! And stay out of this, stranger!"

Naka sighed and looked over at the ruined lamp. "What seems to be the trouble this time?" she was hesitant to ask.

"Well! Funny you should ask," Ellire accused, shooting a fiery glare in the man's direction. He raised his eyebrows at her and crossed his arms.

"This'll be good," the shopkeeper muttered under his breath.

Ellire pretended not to hear the snide remark. "THIS fellow tried to buy our beloved lamp off of me for six copper pieces. Six! Can you even believe such a ridiculous offer?"

Leaning forward and pressing the palms of her hands against her knees, Naka inspected the lamp in question. "Six pieces? Who in their right minds would pay so much for this piece of junk?"

"Exactl-" Ellire stopped herself, realizing that what the airbender had said was in actuality an insult. "Hey!" she gasped. "I really did like that lamp in its prime!"

"Ellire."

The firebender rolled her eyes and echoed Naka's sarcastic tone.

"Naka."

"Ellire…"

"Naka…"

Naka sighed, rubbing her eye with the backside of her hand. "Sometimes I wonder which of us is really the adult here."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ignoring her, Naka passed the papers that she was carrying into Ellire's possession, who began flipping through them slowly. "I was able to set up a time and location for the show. So far A Touch of Magic's on for tonight and tomorrow morning, but I think I can get at least one more performance in if the farmer's market finishes on time. But do you think you'd mind if I took over moving this stuff into the thrift shop while sending you out to search for a proper place to spend the night?" Naka offered.

"Yes. Please."

Ellire pointed at the shopkeeper, at her own eyes, and then back at him again. "Nobody asked you, okay?"

"Elle, please be nice…"

With a shrug, Ellire stretched her arms out to her sides. "All right, fine! You don't want me here!"

"Elle…"

"No, seriously! I get it. It's cool." She began to head towards the doorway as Naka watched, torn between being ashamed of her friend and amused at her immaturity. Ellire continued, "Guess I'll start by looking for an inn or something around here. If we're really lucky I'll bump into some willing host with a spare guest room, like last time…" And with that she stepped outside and disappeared.

"Oh, Elle," Naka sighed, no longer able to contain her entertained smile. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Force her to sit in a pool of icy water until she gets frostbite?"

Naka looked over at the shopkeeper, who quickly turned his back to avoid a reaction that he could only assume would end in some retaliation in her friend's defense. Instead, Naka merely shrugged. "Sounds a bit cruel to me, but if you really think it'll help some…"

Naka and the shopkeeper looked into each other's eyes in absolute seriousness for a brief moment before erupting into laugher.

"What do you want me to do with this, Miss?" The shopkeeper held up a piece of the broken lamp, still chuckling uncontrollably.

"Chuck it?" Naka suggested. "And while you're doing that, I was wondering how much you could offer me for these forks. They're barely used, practically new…"

-x-

Inside the Military Training Academy, located somewhere within the town that Naka and Ellire had taken refuge in, three boys had just taken a quick break from their training. Kengi was the tallest of the group, with slightly darker skin and curly dark brown hair. The second oldest was Caito, with longer blond hair that swept across his pale face and stopped just above the boy's clear blue eyes. Lastly there was Ai, whose short black hair stuck up in the front. He had brown eyes and was at least a full head's length shorter than the other two.

All three were dressed similarly. Their school uniforms included a black jacket with two green stripes making their way down the sleeves, the Earth Kingdom's emblem embroidered across their backs. They had on a pair of matching pants and weren't wearing any shoes, so that they could move around on the Academy's padded floors more easily.

"Hey, I think I'm bleeding!" Ai exclaimed, pressing his hands against the bottom of his nose in an attempt to see if this really was the case. "Can you tell? Does this look like it's bleeding to you?" he asked, tilting his head up so that the others could take a look if they so chose.

Kengi turned his head away. "Gross, dude! I don't wanna see that!" He looked up to see Caito walking in the opposite direction without a word. Kengi cupped his hands around his mouth and called after his friend. "Hey, Caito! Where're you off to?"

Caito stopped, turning over his shoulder to answer. "Just getting a sip of water. Don't wait up for me."

Ai shrugged, still glancing at his fingers distrustfully. "Don't worry; we won't."

Rolling his eyes in response, Caito continued around the corner. As he reached the Academy's lobby he spotted something interesting. It would appear that a female firebender were having some sort of spat with Mrs. Blastov at the front test. This was unusual, considering how unlikely it was to spot anyone from the Fire Nation around those parts.

"I just want you to tell me where the stupid inn is!" the girl was yelling as she leaned over the counter.

Mrs. Blastov wrinkled her nose. Although she was elderly and had the uptight gray bun to show for it, she refused to be outdone in a shouting match. "I did!" she shot back. "Now get out of my office!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

Caito hadn't even noticed that he had been slowly inching forward until Ellire spun around and collided directly into him. "Ouch! Watch where you're going, jerk!" She glared at him for about a millisecond before storming out of the glass doors.

He stared after her, mouth slightly ajar. In that moment a strange sensation came over the boy. It was as if he were suddenly filled with joy, Ellire's image now imprinted in his mind. She was beautiful. She was more than beautiful; she was gorgeous. In fact, he didn't even seem to mind her rudeness with as taken in by her as he was. Caito was, dare we say, in-

"And what are YOU staring at?"

Practically jumping where he stood, Caito turned to face Mrs. Blastov. She adjusted her obnoxiously large glasses with a cold stare as Caito slowly brought himself back to reality. "Oh! Sorry," he muttered, shuffling awkwardly back from whence he came in a daze.

Upon re-entering the previous room he saw Ai and Kengi again, having not budged an inch since he left them. "That sure was quick," Ai pointed out. "We hadn't even gotten up yet."

Kengi nodded. "Did the fountain get up move closer since I last saw it?"

Only then did Caito even realize that he'd entirely forgotten about his original intentions. He shrugged guiltily. "No water, but I DID just so happen to run into the future Mrs. Caito!"

Kengi and Ai both looked at each other in absolute seriousness before busting up into a fit of laughter. Caito frowned, now embarrassed. "Caito in a relationship?" Kengi managed between chuckles. "What a laugh!"

"Yeah!" Ai snorted in agreement. "What d'you bet she's imaginary? Just like the last one!"

Rolling his eyes, Caito tried to intervene. "Sure she's real! And gimme a break - that was ONE time! And I was little!"

"Is she pretty?"

"Yes!"

"Tall?"

"Sure!"

"Friendly?"

"Well..."

"A bender, perhaps?"

"Yes! Well, maybe. I mean, she looked like she was from the Fire Nation."

Kengi crossed his arms and nodded in thought. "Yup. That about proves it... She's most definitely made up."

"Can you even hear yourselves? That proves absolutely nothing!" Caito argued. "And she does exist! I saw her with my own two eyes!"

"And does this mysterious Mrs. Caito Verra have a first name?" Ai asked mockingly.

"I'll let you know as soon as she tells me!"

The giggle fits didn't cease. Kengi practically had to rub his eye to keep from crying. "Wait wait wait - so, you're telling me that you didn't even talk with her? After all that?"

Caito felt himself turning redder by the minute. "No, not exactly! She did call me a jerk and tell me to watch where I'm going... if that... counts?" Apparently not. This bit of information only seemed to increase the volume of the two boys, who were still cackling like two-tailed hyenas. Finally Caito had had enough and stomped his foot down, shouting, "That's it! I know that this girl's my soulmate, and I'm not going to let either of you try to tell me otherwise! One day I'm going to marry her, and find out just who she is! ...Probably not in that order, but you get the idea! Now, are you coming or not?" Without waiting for a response Caito walked past Kengi and Ai, who looked at each other once more nervously.

"D'you think he's serious about it?" Ai asked, his voice lowered. Kengi shrugged, swinging his green gym bag over his shoulder and following after his friend.

"Nah. There's a still a good chance that this mystery girl is another fake. And if not, well, she sounds too good for him anyways!"

-x-

The fog still hadn't lifted by the time that Kumi's fleet had set out. Blaise watched from the ship's deck as the Fire Nation slowly disappeared in the distance the farther away the boat sailed with each crashing wave. The sky was overcast, thick gray clouds looming above her. Blaise silently prayed that there wasn't a storm on its way. Things never did seem to end well for firebenders in a rainstorm...

She turned her head slightly to see a seemingly random police officer who was staring boredly off into the distance. Seeing it as the only appropriate thing to do in this situation, Blaise tried her hardest to provide him some company on the ship.

Step by step, Blaise inched closer and closer to the FNPD officer until she was at least an arm's length or so away. She smiled up at him. Continuing to be ignored, Blaise slid several steps closer and leaned forward. "Hiya!"

No response.

"I'm Blaise!" She held out her hand. "Of course, I'm sure you already know that." The silence ensued and she made a pouting face, pulling her arm back. "So! How're you doing on this lovely and yet annoyingly cold morning? Er, afternoon, that is to say."

Finally even Blaise grew fed up with the soldier. "Hey!" she hissed, throwing herself directly in front of the man's face. She'd certainly like to see him try to ignore her NOW. "What's the big idea, eh? I'm only trying to be nice!"

The Fire Nation police officer lifted an eyebrow and finally responded. However, his response was hardly what Blaise had been anticipating.

"Chief Kumi has instructed all those on board not to speak with you. Now, if you don't mind, I wish to continue following her clear orders."

Blaise practically laughed out loud. "You've got to be joking! What does Ol' Ironface, or whatever it is they call her, hope to accomplish by cutting me off from the rest of the crew? I mean, I know that I'm not her favorite person in the universe, but don't you agree that that's just a little low?"

Silence.

"Yeah, that's about the response I expected." Blaise threw herself forward, hanging her arms over the ship's edge, and buried her chin in them. She sighed and kept on talking to herself. "It's not like it's her job to dictate who I'm friends with. Or not friends with, as seems to be the case more often than not these days... I mean, what's she really going to do because of some harmless conversation? FIRE you?"

The firebender pulled herself up, a pleased look upon her face once more. "Get it? Fire? It's funny because we can bend... fire..." She scanned the area for any signs of the policeman who had stood there just moments ago, but he was nowhere to be seen. Blaise tried to keep from becoming disappointed at this.

"Does no one in the Fire Nation appreciate a good sense of humor!" she said loudly to no one in particular.

Suddenly Blaise felt a single drop of water land on the tip of her nose. She blinked in surprise, wrinkling her face. Blaise peered up at the gloomy sky once more. It would seem that Aeron, being the pansy that he truly was, had already curled up for a nap in some small corner somewhere sheltered in anticipation of the oncoming downpour.

Please let there not be rain, she thought to herself with crossed fingers.

-x-

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Naka asked, eyeing the sky above her doubtfully. She'd previously assumed that the bad weather would burn off by midday, but this was seeming less and less likely the more time passed. "I mean, can we even perform when it's raining?"

Ellire finished tying off the banner above their stage, pulling its strings tightly. They were only about halfway done setting up the portable theater and still had at least another hour or so of work ahead of them.

"It better not!" Ellire said. "Otherwise what would be the point of all this? Performance space or not, you know I can't firebend in when my hands are all wet!"

"I'm sure if you practiced enough..."

"That isn't the point! I swear, if a single raindrop hits this stage-"

As if on cue, several light raindrops scattered across the village square. Ellire stood up and glared at the sky as she puffed out her chest stubbornly. "How dare you spite me!" she hissed at the thick gray clouds.

Naka sighed, lifting her arm above her head to form an umbrella of sorts as wind spiralled around in the shape of a half-circle, throwing water droplets out of the way of her head. "Y'know, Elle, you really shouldn't tempt the weather gods. They don't seem to like you any more than normal people do."

Ignoring her friend, Ellire threw a threatening finger forward. "You stop this nonsense right now, or I'll... I'll... I'll do something very unpleasant to the next waterbender I come across!"

There was a crash of thunder and the rain began the fall even heavier than before, drenching the firebender from head to toe. She clenched her fists, scowling. The still-dry Naka merely shrugged. "Told you so."

Finally admitting defeat, Ellire chose to leave the scene. She pulled Naka's other arm on her way past. "C'mon, Naka. We're going INSIDE."

-x-

In their one-roomed inn, Ellire had sprawled herself out dramatically across one of the two twin beds. Her back was facing upwards, her face shoved into a pillow. Naka sat on the other bed, watching her with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, it's not so bad..."

"Yes it is..." Ellire grumbled into the pillow.

"That is to say, things could certainly be a lot worse."

"No they couldn't."

Naka sighed; Ellire always got like this on rainy days. She moved her lips into a whistling shape and blew a stream of wind in the firebender's direction, flipping her onto her backside. "Maybe it's a little damp outside! So what? There's still loads to do." Naka stood up and paced over to the window. Water dripped down in long streaks as the pitter-patter of rain tapped against the glass softly. "And perhaps it's a good thing? It's certainly been a while since the two of us did anything just for fun."

Ellire glanced at Naka, still lying down. "Do you not think what we do is fun?"

"Sure! Sometimes it is, but... however much you try to disguise it as that, it just starts to feel like work after a while." Naka pressed her hand against the cool glass and leaned forward to get a better look. "Maybe we'll stick around a little longer this time and try to reschedule the magic show for when the weather's cleared up? We could take a look around town, go window shopping, maybe learn a thing or two for once..."

"Are you seriously suggesting we go outside on a day like this? Might as well just stay here and complain about the rain until it decides to go away!"

"Loser," Naka sighed, turning around and leaning against the windowsill. "You really hate the rain, don't you?"

"You have NO idea."

There was a loud knocking at the door and both girls practically jumped, making Ellire sit up. "I wonder who that could be," Naka said calmly. "It's not like we know anybody in town... or at least anybody who would want to see us, let alone know where we're staying."

As the knocking continued, Ellire finally got up to answer the door. Although this was likely more out of curiosity than anything else, Naka was still surprised at the gesture.

Ellire opened the door to see Caito standing before her, a cheesy grin on his face. He barely got through a full sentence to introduce himself when she slammed the door shut again and headed back towards her bed, where she lay down and stared up at the ceiling. Naka's jaw dropped.

"Ellire! What in the heck was that for?!"

She shrugged. "Didn't know 'im."

"But that's... Elle, you just can't-!" Naka sighed, instead of arguing merely deciding to answer for herself. It was a nice attempt after all, but she still couldn't understand why her friend wouldn't even want to let the stranger finish his pitch. When she swung the door open once more Caito was now staring with wide eyes, perhaps wondering just what had happened. "Sorry about my friend. I suppose you could say meeting strangers upsets her."

"Does not."

"Oh, shut it!"

Caito smiled weakly and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, um... That's okay! I'm Caito, with the Military Training Academy here. I couldn't help but notice that you two seemed to be new to these parts, and so I doubted you knew about the ball they're having tomorrow night, but pretty much everyone in town's going. And as a student of the Academy I'm expected to bring a date... If you'd like to come, that is."

Naka's eyes lit up at the word 'ball'. "A ball!" she squealed excitedly. "And we're invited? Oh, Ellire, do you hear that? We're going to a ball!" Caito practically had to take an uneasy step backwards to avoid the airbender as she leaned forward in anticipation. "And I'd love to be your date!"

"Actually, I was referring to your friend over there for that part."

"What?" both Ellire and Naka asked at the same time.

Caito quickly backtracked. "Is... that okay?"

Ellire closed her eyes, making a face. "Absolutely-"

"That sounds wonderful!" Naka answered for her. She began quickly shoving Caito back out of their doorways, saying, "Then we'll see you tomorrow night, yes? Thank you for stopping by!" As soon as the blond was out of the way Naka held her hand forward and blew the door shut again.

Groaning, Ellire leaned back once more. "I don't see why you're so excited about this. It's just a dumb party."

"Y'know, I actually thought YOU'D be the one happy about the ball. Not only is it something we can do out of the rain, but it sure beats sitting around here and waiting to reschedule a performance!"

"But I don't go to parties for a reason!" Ellire pouted. "And it's not just because you're the only friend I have. I suppose I'm not half bad at dancing, but what would I even wear? I don't own any dresses."

Naka smiled, placing her hand on her best friend's shoulder. "That can be easily fixed. First thing tomorrow morning, we've got a date to fix you up for!" Naka winked at Ellire, who smiled back appreciatively.

-x-

"You're hurt."

Jairin shook her head and pulled her sleeve up over her shoulder to cover up a nasty burn. Rei slid it down once more to get a better look at the wound. She pressed her finger against it lightly and Jairin winced in pain.

"Did the firebender do this to you?"

Jairin nodded.

The waterbender knelt down and uncapped a small pouch of water that was tied around her waist. Once opened, Rei pulled a floating blob of water from it and pressed it against Jairin's burnt shoulder. It began to glow a lighter blue color. "Try not to move," she instructed. "I'm not the best at this, but it should be better in a couple of days."

At first Jairin was expecting the worst, so when a soothing sensation overcame her in the place where she had been previously sore came as a pleasant surprise. As soon as Rei had finished she sent the water back into its container.

Jairin stood up, relieved to find it no longer hurt her to get up. "Are we spending the night here?"

"Yup." Rei lay down, curling into a tight ball. Jairin had made the cave out of a nearby rock formation in the forest, but she was still shocked at the idea of settling down for the night without any proper camping supplies.

"What about the fire?" Jairin asked curiously.

"Are you a firebender?"

"No."

"And do I look like a firebender?"

"No... no, you don't. But-"

Rei rolled onto her other side and closed her eyes, perfectly comfortable without any blanket at all. "Then it looks like we won't be having a fire tonight. Trust me, it's really not that cold... Try spending a night surrounded by snow and ice!"

Jairin frowned but didn't say anything. From the looks of it, it was going to be a very long night. She glanced outside the cave's entrance, where it was still raining pretty hard. Hopefully she could talk the assassin into buying sleeping bags for the two of them when they reached the next town.

She sat down, leaning against the hard rock behind her and rested her arms around her knees. Home is starting to sound real nice right about now, Jairin thought to herself, closing her eyes. It took some time, but eventually she, too, drifted off to sleep.

-x-

Kumi stood atop the ship, her fists clenched. Wet hair kept sticking to her face, pressed down with the falling rain. "Cowards!" she hissed through clenched teeth. "What's the matter with you lot? Afraid to get a little wet? Get back on deck!"

But for the first time in what may have been ages Chief Kumi's shouts were ignored. Instead, the police continued to hurry below deck and out of the weather's reach. Blaise came to Kumi's side and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, which was immediately shaken off.

"Hey," Blaise started, "you should head back inside as well. There isn't anything happening out here anyway, and what good would you be as a commander if you caught a cold because of this?"

Kumi slit her eyes at Blaise in response. "Don't you DARE tell me what I should and shouldn't do." Nonetheless, the firebender followed her shipmate's advice and began down the flight of stairs that descended to the lower decks. Once she had reached the bottom she stopped and sat down on the last step. As much as she hated to admit it, the idea of not being able to give any orders for the time being made her feel useless. Of course, the rain didn't help to improve her mood either.

Blaise found herself following after Kumi. As soon as the older Chief of Police had settled down she slid right in beside her. Kumi looked as if she were debating whether or not to shoo Blaise away but ultimately decided against it.

"Look, Chief..." Blaise said softly. "I know we got off to a bit of a rough start. And trust me, I'm the last person who'd want to be your enemy... at least, now that I'm kind of stuck with you. S-So, if there's anything you'd like to say... to, y'know, relieve some of this tension that you - WE - that we seem to have... built... up."

Kumi glanced over at Blaise, raising an eyebrow as she trailed off. She rubbed an eye, too tired to argue with her any more. "I have nothing to talk with you about."

"Alright, then I'll talk and you can just listen!"

"Oh, goodie..."

"I've been meaning to ask why you're so set on capturing Naka and Ellire, but I suppose that can wait for when you're in the mood. I don't suppose you know how the three of us got into that business together? No?"

"Not a clue, much less do I care." Kumi said, burying her chin in her knees.

"Come, now!" Blaise laughed. "Don't they teach you anything in those fancy-shmancy Fire Nation law schools? You're supposed to gather everything you can about your enemy before going up against them." She paused to look off into the distance, as if remembering some better time. "I don't have much when it comes to sob stories. That isn't to say I was well off, either, but I didn't mind it so much. See, I never knew my parents, and as such grew up in an orphanage just outside of the capitol. That's where I met Ellire.

Being the only two benders in the place, Ellire and I got along right away. Naka showed up after her parents were killed. We were about eight at the time. I remember thinking it was strange, that they would bring an airbender into a Fire Nation orphanage, but I think it may've been that her family used to live nearby. Either that or the officials were just too lazy to make a trip over to the Western Air Temple.

In any case, the three of us always hung out together. They were like the little sisters that I'd never had. We used to hide our bending whenever people came in to look at us so that we wouldn't get adopted, because that would mean being separated. But we each secretly knew that we couldn't stay there forever.

One day an older lady came to take Ellire away. She felt empty after her husband passed away, or some depressing story like that. When Naka thought she wasn't going to see Ellire again, she cried for days.

In about a week Ellire showed up again, sneaking in through our open window. She said she wasn't happy in her new home, that it just wasn't the same without us. She wanted to run away with us to make our own family, and for whatever reason we agreed. I don't think anybody even really noticed that we were gone, but trust me, I was regretting it right off the bat.

Money was hard to come by, and food even more scarce. I thought people would be more willing to help out a couple of street children like us, but... I guess not. Eventually we started to rely on stealing what we needed to get by.

It was Naka's idea to put on a performance for people. She found this giant jackalope running around in the garbage... Well, it was actually quite small at the time, but it's grown a lot since then. Anyway, she named him Dandan and started teaching him all sorts of tricks that she combined with her airbending for a cooler effect. At first we were surprised that people would pay to see that sort of thing, but it made me start to wonder if we could make some extra coins putting on little shows for people.

With time we'd developed the performance group you now know as A Touch of Magic. Eventually saving up enough to get ourselves a caravan, and having a much larger Dandan to pull it, we started to travel around the Fire Nation.

I figure that's when you first heard about us. Several years have passed, but I don't suppose we've changed all too much. Like I told you before, last I heard before Naka and Ellire sent me packing was that they were headed to the Earth Kingdom to try their luck there."

When the bender didn't continue right away, Kumi looked up at Blaise, somewhat surprised to have received her entire backstory in such a small amount of time. "And after all that, after everything you three have been through together... you're still going to help me capture them?"

Blaise nodded without any hesitation. "Yup! Those two water weasels had it coming the second they thought about hitting the road without me!"

Kumi very nearly cracked a smile at Blaise's response. "That's good. You would be of no use to me if you want crawling right back to them after all this."

"No sir! I mean, Ma'am! I mean..."

"Blaise... just, stop trying." Kumi got up and began to head off to her sleeping quarters.

"Yes, Chief..." Blaise's eyes lit up. "Oh, hey! I got it right that time!"

"Goodnight, Blaise."

Blaise's smile faded as Kumi stepped out from under the lantern's glow and disappeared into the darkness of the ship. She sighed. "Weird."

Suddenly Aeron was at her side. He flapped his tiny green wings twice before landing on the step that Blaise was sitting on and shook himself off, several water droplets flying off of his scales in various directions.

"Where've you been off to?" Blaise asked.

I went for a quick flight outside. Unlike you, I am not bothered by the rain. I instead find it quite refreshing.

"Some dragon you are," Blaise teased, holding out her hand as a step for Aeron to climb onto. From there she placed him on top of her head and got up, following after Kumi. "C'mon, it's about time we got some shuteye."

I couldn't help but catch the tail end of your conversation with the Chief. Do tell me you're not having second thoughts?

"Not at all. I am going to have my revenge, and it will be on my own terms, whether Ol' Ironfire likes it or not. But for now, there's not much more I can do than wait for her to lead me right to them..."

-x-

Back in the Earth Kingdom, Caito sat on his bed watching out the window. The moon was hidden by invisible rain clouds in the night sky, but its foggy outline could still be made out. Though it was cold and wet outside, Caito couldn't help but feel overcome with excitement at the day's events and the thought of the following night.

In just one short day he would see Ellire again. He would then confess his feeling so that they could be together forever, and when-

There a knock on the door. Caito jumped in surprise. His father opened in slowly and peeked his head into Caito's room. "What are you still doing up, son? Tomorrow is as big a day as any. Remember that you still have to attend school, dance or not."

Caito smiled back. "I know. Sorry, Dad... I was just getting to bed."

His father nodded and shut the door once more. Caito leaned over and blew out the dim candle that sat on his bedside table before pulling the covers over himself. He closed his eyes and smiled, knowing that his night would be filled with good dreams.

Ellire's? Not as such.

-x-

She was standing in the middle of a dark forest. It wasn't raining there, but the trees were all bare. Wind whistled through them, rustling their branches together. But there was something else that drew in her attention.

It was like nothing she had ever seen before. The creature took the shape of a giant leopard, except that its thick fur was an unusual dark purple color and a pattern of black spots adorned its back.

It had large paws, its claws unsheathed, and a pair of sharp canines that could be seen when it bore its teeth. But perhaps its most terrifying feature was its eyes. They had no pupils, or anything else, for that matter, but glowed a bright purple, as if a light were being shined behind them.

The animal sat several feet away from Ellire, its tail flicking back and forth as it watched her intently. A chill ran down Ellire's spine and the firebender took a step backwards.

"Greetings, Ellire."

"W-Who are you?"

The creature smiled knowingly. "My title is of no importance. A little girl I once knew many moons ago called me Sol. You may refer to me as that, as you humans seem so set on giving a name to everything." It lifted its head to the girl and she felt as if its glowing eyes were burning into her. "Welcome to the spirit world."

"T-The spirit world?" Ellire stammered, her legs shaking slightly where she stood. She held an arm up in front of her face to see that it was a pale, glowing red color. Ellire continued to inspect it, her fingers outstretched. It appeared nearly translucent, as she could just about make out the scene before her. Ellire gasped in surprise.

"Then, that would explain why I'm all glow-y and stuff! A-And you must be... a spirit!"

Sol continued to watch Ellire without budging an inch. He sighed. "I hesitate to deem you sharpest tool in the shed, but... Yes, I am a spirit."

"B-But, that doesn't make any sense! How can I be in the spirit world?" Ellire asked. "I'm no Avatar! I don't belong here!" Sol's whiskers twitched in amusement. He flicked his tail once more back and forth.

"Not only the Avatar is destined for greatness. When I look at you, Ellire, I see an ambitious young woman with a thirst to prove herself. One does not need to know how to bend all four element to learn to control them... There is a power that has become forgotten to the human world. You have the capability to use this power... and I can teach you."

Ellire blinked in surprise. Power? What was Sol going on about?

"Unless, of course, you would rather spend the rest of your days performing silly magic tricks for spare change?"

Ellire looked away, rubbing her hands together nervously. "Well... Not exactly. I mean, haven't really thought much about my future..."

"Just think of the power that you could possess. The lives you could change. In theory, if you agreed to this, you could take whatever path you wanted."

"I don't know," Ellire sighed. The whole thing just sounded unreal to her. "I guess I'm just confused, that's all. It's a lot to think about, all this."

The spirit stood up, flexing its paws. Sol nodded understandingly before turning around slowly and padding off in the opposite direction.

"Take some time to mull the offer over. I will come and find you when you are ready."


	3. Part 3: Strange Meetings

**奇怪的会议**

**Part 3:**

**Strange Meetings**

-x-

Ellire shot her eyes open, relieved to find she was back at the inn. It had only been a dream, she told herself, and allowed her breathing to slow once more. A rather strange and slightly unnerving dream, but a dream nonetheless. She turned her head to the side to see Naka, who was sitting cross-legged on the opposite bed and was raising an eyebrow.

"Are... you okay over there?"

"Yeah," Ellire replied, rubbing her eyes. "Just a bad dream." She sat up and squinted towards the window. It really didn't look all that much lighter than it had during the nighttime. "Is it seriously STILL raining?" she groaned.

Naka followed her gaze. Although it wasn't pouring as hard as it had been the night before, the sky was still dark and wet. "Looks like it. But we can try to keep indoors if that'll make you happy." She leapt up suddenly and Ellire saw that her bed had already been made. "All right, hurry up and get ready! You've already slept most of the morning in and we still have to get you a dress picked out!"

Ellire groaned and forced herself out of bed. The current state of her hair suggested a tornado had blown through the village during the night. "And what about you?" she yawned, stretching her arms towards the ceiling.

"Hey, I never said I wouldn't be looking as well," Naka winked.

-x-

"Well? What do you think?" Naka asked, showing Ellire in front of the full-length mirror. She stared back at herself for moment, inspecting the dress that her friend had picked out for her. Ellire frowned.

"Oh."

"Oh?" the airbender echoed. "Is that a good 'oh' or a bad 'oh'? Because I'm starting to think you're swaying more to the negative side."

"I don't know. The dress is fine, it's just so... so... GREEN."

"Green?"

"GREEN."

Naka looked at Ellire, slightly concerned. "And is green not your color?"

"I have a hard time believing green can be anyone's color," Ellire confirmed, still eyeing the outfit distastefully. Naka sighed.

"Elle! You're in the Earth Kingdom; of course all the dresses are going to be some shade of green!" Naka laughed. "At least this one's better than the last three you tried on." She looked around, spotting the shopkeeper, and proceeded to flag her down. "Excuse me, Ma'am, but how much for this dress?"

The shopkeeper stopped, looking over her shoulder. "Ah yes, what a pretty shade of green!" Ellire stuck out her tongue in disgust. "I give you it for five silver pieces. Great deal, no?"

"Five silver?!" Naka's jaw dropped. She quickly began ushering Ellire away, a nervous smile on her face. "On second thought, we'll keep looking! After all, fifth time's the charm... right?"

"See, if only you had done a better job turning out a profit when we first got here..." Ellire muttered.

"Oh, just be quiet and help me find the clearance section!"

-x-

Rei and Jairin had spent the last couple of hours trudging through a dirt trail in the forest. The rain didn't seem to be helping their pace much, although unlike the earthbender, Rei didn't seem to mind it nearly as much. Jairin could've sworn she was enjoying herself even more than before.

"This is ridiculous!" Jairin complained, shivering. It hadn't occurred to her to pack a blanket or anything else for warmth. "It's going to take us twice as long to get anywhere like this!"

"Actually..." Rei said, holding out the palm of her hand into the rain, "we might be able to get there twice as fast with these weather conditions."

Jairin squinted at Rei. "What's that supposed to mean? ...And why are you giving me an evil smile like that?"

But before Jairin even had time to realize what she'd just agreed to, the young earthbender found herself clinging to a slab of stone behind Rei, who stood up as if she were surfing (which she just about was). The waterbender moved her arms slightly, keeping up a consistent water current from the falling rain. Rei burst into a fit of maniacal cackling just as the pair blew past a traveling family on their homemade water slide.

The family ran off the road just before being swept up in the floor. A little boy nearly slipped and hurt himself before his mother pulled him to his feet again, shooting an angry look in Rei's direction. "Sorry!" Jairin called back to them from over her shoulder, a terrified look on her face. "Rei, are you sure this is such a good idea?"

"Of course it is! Look - I can see the town already!"

Sure enough, there it was a little ways off. Rei lunged forward, speeding up their ride as Jairin opened her mouth to let out a scream but failed to make any sound come out. Within another minute or so the two benders were rapidly approaching the town's gates. Rei bit her lip in anticipation of the next challenge: "Now, the real trick is getting it to break just in time..."

"WHAT?!"

"Okay, hold on tight!" As the tall gates grew dangerously nearer, Rei leaned to the side, sending their stone raft swerving in a circle. Jairin held on tighter, shutting her eyes tightly. A large wave splashed up against the side of the gates, providing a cushion to slide them back in the opposite direction. Rei threw her arms down, forcing the river back into the ground. The stone came to a smooth stop and the waterbender placed her hands on her hips, clearly pleased with her work.

As soon as the opportunity presented itself Jairin jumped up, in more of a hurry to get off the unsafe craft than she'd ever been before. Unfortunately she almost immediately slipped on the now-muddy ground around them, falling flat on her face.

"Our timing was perfect!" Rei exclaimed, apparently oblivious to Jairin's current predicament. "If we'd waited any longer we wouldn't have enough rain to pull off something like that. Look, the sky's already clearing up!"

Jairin rubbed an arm against her cheek without much success. She picked herself up again, moving her wrists in a sort of rolling motion that seemed to help pull the mud off of her and fling it back onto the ground. Rei turned around, only just noticing what she was doing.

"Oh! Let me help with that!" she offered all too willingly.

Jairin began shaking her head wildly. "No! I mean, not you-"

But before she had a chance to stop Rei she went right ahead and pulled an enormous blob of clean water from the ground, sending it in Jairin's direction. As soon as it had run into the ground once more Jairin, no longer covered in mud, instead stood looking miserable and dripping wet. While Rei perhaps figured what she had done was helpful, Jairin knew within another minute or so she could've cleaned up the mess entirely on her own.

"Hey... Rei?"

"Mm?"

"Would you mind taking a step forward for me?"

Rei, knowing no reason to his distrust Jairin, did so. Angrily, Jairin stopped her foot into the mud, causing a patch of harder dirt to pop up from under Rei and send her flying into the air. With a splash she, too, landed in the mud. Jairin chuckled softly to herself and started through the town gates.

"Next time, keep your silly water tricks to yourself!" she said. "I'm not paying you to splash around in the rain."

Rei got up again and lifted her arms, pulling a ring of water up with them. She then released it over herself, washing away all of the mud and quickened her pace to catch up with Jairin. "You watch yourself, you little brat! Last time I checked, I was the one doing the job. You just wanted to tag along and watch."

The earthbender stopped and turned to face Rei. "Fair enough. Next time you feel like making a giant water slide I'll just watch!"

"Y'know, kid, I think I'm starting to like you," the waterbender announced, placing her arm around Jairin.

Jairin merely smiled, her gaze still fixed forward. "Yeah, yeah. Cut the bonding nonsense and help me find our targets, won't you?"

The two benders then proceeded to search the town, keeping an eye out for any sign of Ellire and Naka. At least, that's what Jairin was doing; Rei, on the other hand, seemed a little less willing to find them at all. While Jairin pressed forward the waterbender held back away, waiting for the opportune moment to slip away and leave her there.

"Look!" Jairin shouted, turning around. Rei froze in place and smiled innocently. Her plan now foiled, Rei waited as the earthbender ran towards her, pointing. "This proves it; they're definitely here!"

"Oh, look. The rain seems to be slowing down."

"Never mind that! Do you know what that is?" Jairin pushed Rei forwards to show her the half-set up stage. Beside it sat A Touch of Magic's wagon, Dandan napping in front.

Rei merely shrugged. "I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"It's their performance stage! That means they're here somewhere!"

"I thought we already knew that?"

"Well. Now we know for sure!" Jairin gave Rei a stern look. "I think we should start by asking around town for any signs of them. Chances are anyone who's seen the show will recognize them." Rei nodded as the earthbender walked off in the other direction. Perhaps it was best that she waiting before attempting to ditch her once more.

"Ah, good choice! That'll be two silver pieces for both dresses."

Out of the corner of her eye Rei saw two girls paying a shopkeeper, who smiled and thanked them. They didn't look like they were from the Earth Kingdom, but their current attire seemed to suggest otherwise.

"Excuse me," she addressed them, "but me and my friend have come to see A Touch of Magic - the magic show in town."

Naka smiled excitedly. "Elle! Someone wants to see us perform! You see, we actually-"

Ellire covered the airbender's mouth distrustfully. "You going to have to wait," she told Rei. "The magic show's on hold because of the rain, but if we're lucky it's nearly done by this point."

Rei nodded, still having no clue who it was she was speaking with. "And where might I find the actors?"

"Uhm... well, there is a ball tonight. Apparently the whole town's going."

"Wonderful!" Rei exclaimed, she, too, being entranced by the word 'ball'. "I suppose can I wait that long to speak with them."

-x-

The festivities were already well into full swing by the time that Ellire and Naka arrived. The two girls stood in the ballroom's doorway for several long minutes, taking in the unusual atmosphere of the place. They were about to enter a large, bowl-shaped room, with golden lights along the walls and a fake cloud-covered sky painted above them. The attendees weren't so dancing so much as standing around in huddled masses, their conversations only just making it over the sound of an orchestra playing.

"Seems awfully fancy for some small town smack-dab in the middle of the Earth Kingdom," Naka muttered to her companion.

Ellire made a face, hardly noticing the airbender's comment. "So. Why are we here, again?"

"Because a certain someone is supposed to be meeting up with a rather cute boy," Naka mused.

"...Yeah, but. WHY are we here?"

"Did you not hear or was that not enough of a convincing reason by itself?"

With a shrug, Ellire continued to scan her eyes across the room, seemingly unwilling to step further in until she felt completely safe. "If you're so interested in that Canto kid-"

"Caito."

"-then why didn't YOU come with him?"

It was just then that Caito rejoined the girls, pulling along Kengi and Ai with both arms. "See?" he was saying excitedly. "I TOLD you I didn't make her up!"

"Okay, so she's real! Big whoop!" Ai said, shaking out of Caito's grasp.

"Probably a criminal or something, knowing Caito's luck," Kengi chuckled softly under his breath. His comment was acknowledged by a hard stomp to the foot. With a yelp, Kengi lifted his leg and winced before shooting an angry glare in his friend's direction.

Ellire and Naka exchanged glances.

Finally the younger girl threw her arm forward with cheesy grin. "Hi, I'm Naka! It's a pleasure!" The two other boys reached out to shake hands with her, sharing their identities in an equally forced manner. Ellire crossed her own arms and said nothing, making it only too painfully clear that she wanted nothing to do with the male half of the species for the time being.

"So!" Caito laughed nervously, clapping his hands together. "Would you-"

"Care to dance?" Kengi interrupted, holding out his arm for Naka.

She blushed, looking away. "Well, it'd be terribly rude of me to turn down such a kind offer!" With a polite giggle Naka took Kengi's hand and the two of them ventured further into the ballroom.

Ai yawned obnoxiously and began in the opposite direction without saying a word. Caito looked towards Ellire expectedly and was rather disappointed to find the firebender pushing her way past him. "Where're you off to?"

"Getting something to drink. Don't wait up."

Caito's face fell and he attempted to catch up with Ellire. Unfortunately, before he could she had already disappeared into the sea of party-goers.

-x-

"Jairin. Just WHAT do you think you're doing?"

"Trying to climb in through that there open window! See, maybe if you could just lift me a-"

"Might I suggest the DOOR?" Rei hissed back.

Jairin frowned, lowering the dirt below her feet so that she was level with her hired assassin once more. "But I thought we weren't invited?"

"No, not technically," Rei said with a roII of her eyes, "but apparently the whole town's going. No one would really care either way. Unless, of course, we broke in through the window and caused a scene - THEN people might start to get a little suspicious."

Shrugging, the young earthbender followed Rei around to the front of the building and the two of them entered. A discrete smile slid its way across Rei's face; this was the perfect situation in which she could slip away unnoticed and circle back the way she'd come.

-x-

It wasn't long before Ellire had grown tired of the ball. Half tempted to head on back to the inn, she instead relocated to a nearby patio for some fresh air. Thankfully the rain had completely ceased for the first time that day. The firebender leaned over the railing with an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, there you are!" a male's voice rang out from behind her.

Hair standing up on the back of her neck, Ellire whirled around to find herself practically face-to-face with Caito. "I thought I said don't wait up?" she growled back.

Caito smiled. "You also said you were going to get a drink, but I don't see you with one of those."

"They didn't have anything I like."

Ellire turned around again, perhaps hoping that Caito would get the message and go away. He didn't. "Say, you're from the Fire Nation, aren't you?" Beat. "I don't think green's really your color." Ellire continued to stare off at the nearby forest without a word. Caito stepped forward and placed his arms across the railing beside her, determined as ever. "It is Ellire, isn't it?"

"Yes," the bender finally answered. Caito's eyes lit up at this.

"Ellire. Sweet. Definitely does sound Fire Nation-y." He cleared his throat and turned around to use the railing for back support. "So, uh, are you planning on staying in the Earth Kingdom for long?"

Ellire shrugged, still avoiding eye contact. "I dislike attachments."

"Well. If you change your mind, my place has a guest room, which certainly beats the inn by a longshot. I'm sure Dad wouldn't-"

Caito was cut short when Naka came dashing outside. "We've got company!" she was saying with wide eyes.

Ellire stood up straight. "Great, who'd we piss off this time?"

"Remember Jairin? Well, she's here, and is accompanied by at least one chick from the Water Tribe."

Ellire slit her eyes. "Oh, joy."

"Jairin? Water tribe?" Caito looked from Naka to Ellire with a confused expression.

"It's a long story," Ellire said. "Look, I'll stay here and hold them off. Do you think you can wake Dandan and meet me at the edge of the village with the cart?"

"I'd have to take everything down first," Naka frowned. "Are you sure you can't come with?"

"We won't be able to get anything done if we're being attacked," Ellire pointed out.

Naka sighed. "Fine. But I'll need at least twenty minutes to pack it all up on my own."

"Twenty minutes, tops."

Without a word Naka jumped several feet higher than necessary into the air to hop the railing. The girl then formed a blue-tinted ball of wind beneath her and rode it around the corner like a vehicle. Ellire rolled her eyes.

"Woah, and she's an airbender?" Caito exclaimed, leaning halfway over the patio railing.

Before Ellire had time to respond, the ground beneath her shot up into the air, launching her out forward and directly into the drunk of a tree.

"What are you waiting for?" Jairin demanded from the doorway. "Get her while she's down!"

Rei hesitated momentarily before shooting a jet of water in Ellire's direction. The firebender quickly rolled to her side, narrowly dodging the attack.

"Hey! Whatever happened to using your words?" Caito called out angrily. He was answered by a thick wave of dirt that nearly knocked him over. Rei and Jairin pushed past him and hopped over the railing after Ellire, who made a dash towards the woods to hopefully draw the fight away from outside eyes.

Had she recalled that trees are flammable, her plan just might have worked. Instead it took only a couple of counter attacks before a couple of bushes caught fire, lighting up the area with a glowing orange.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Caito shouted, suddenly at Ellire's side again. "You're gonna light the whole area on fire!"

"Well, it's a good thing I said I didn't like attachments!" Ellire launched another fireball in Rei's direction, but it was quickly extinguished by a small tidal wave.

Despite Rei's waterbending, several surrounding trees had become engulfed in the quickly spreading wall of fire. The increasingly thin air sent Jairin into a coughing fit, the heat disrupting her concentration on earthbending. Ellire took the opportunity to attempt to catch up with Naka, but was disappointed to find Caito not far behind. "Why don't you go get help? Sure beats standing around in my way!"

"Not until you tell me why you're being attacked!" Caito shot back.

"That's none of your business!"

-x-

Naka had nearly perfect timing, arriving at the edge of the village just moments before she caught sight of the fire in the distance. Within seconds two figures came charging towards her, Rei and Jairin hot on their trail. Ellire and Caito hopped onto the wagon next to her.

"Go go go!"

"Wait, what's he still doing here?" Naka demanded.

"You're preaching to the choir, hun. If it were up to me he'd have been gone a long time ago."

Caito frowned. "I'm right here, you know!"

Just then a large slab of rock came hurling overhead and very nearly hit the wagon. Without a word Naka tightened her hold on Naka's reigns and made a clicking noise with her tongue, sending the cart into motion. The group didn't made it far, however, before a series of sharp, jagged rock began shooting up from the path beneath them. A couple of the rocks threw the wagon off-center, nearly tipping it onto its side. Dandan skid to a halt to prevent this and a jetstream of water pushed the trio out of their seats and onto the damp soil below. Moments later Rei and Jairin were upon them.

"Didn't expect to see me again so soon, did you?" Jairin cooed.

Ellire sneered. "Oh, yes. I'm sure Mommy and Daddy would be so proud of you right now."

"Would someone PLEASE just tell me what this is all about!" Caito exclaimed, throwing his arms out to the side.

"Ellire and I are thieves," Naka explained coolly. "We looted everything of value from Jairin's place a couple days ago, which really isn't saying much, considering we could barely afford a single room at the inn afterwards."

"Hold up, are you trying to tell me that you two actually ARE criminals?" Caito looked betrayed upon realizing this. "Which would mean… that they're the good guys?"

"Good is matter of perspective," Ellire said with a shrug.

The ground shook slightly, drawing everyone's eyes to Jairin. "Why are you just standing there while they sit around conversing?" she demanded. "This isn't what I'm paying you for!"

Rei didn't respond. Caito stood up again and offered a hand out to Ellire. The firebender ignored it, picking herself up and helping Naka to her feet as well. "Look, I've only just met most of you girls," Caito began slowly, "but I think it's safe to assume that we've all gotten off on the wrong foot. Whatever quarrel it is you're having, I'm sure that if you take it to the Earth Kingdom officials they'll be more than happy to sort things-"

The female benders seemed to erupt all at once:

"Absolutely not!"

"Do you realize how quickly word would get back to the Fire Nation if we were arrested here!"

"I can't get banished again!"

"I didn't come all this way for nothing!"

Caito pursed his lips together. "Defensive bunch, aren't you?" They could now hear panicked voices from a little ways away. Undoubtedly the forest fire had continued to grow larger, finally catching the villager's attention.

"Tell you what," Rei said, "who's in favor of forgetting any past disagreements in light of skipping town before people start asking questions?"

Ellire and Naka exchanged glances. Naka shrugged. "I'm game if you are."

"Wait, you can't go about making deals with them!" Jairin gasped. "I hired you to do a job!"

"Yeah, and you're like, twelve years old."

"Fourteen!"

Ignoring them, Ellire began climbing onto the cart. "Well, are we going or not?"

"You can't just run off like that," scoffed Caito. "That's totally not the morally responsible way to handle this situation!"

Ellire rolled her eyes so hard they may as well have fallen out of her head. "Con artists, thieves, responsible for thousands in destroyed property… Do you really think either of us have any concern for the 'morally responsible'?"

Caito's face fell. "I don't believe it. I thought you were a genuinely nice person when we first met!"

"Oh God, whatever gave you that impression?"

Feeling himself grow red in the face, Caito lunch forward. He was quickly intercepted by Naka, who thrust her fist out, sending a gust of wind in the boy's direction and knocked him to his knees. "Oh no, did I actually hurt her him?" she immediately let out, cupping her hands over her mouth.

"He'll be fine," Ellire promised. "Whether he reports us or not, I suggest we put as many miles as possible between us and this village."

"Seconded," Rei chimed in. "But, has anyone seen where Jairin went?"

Ellire shrugged. "Probably realized she was outnumbered and ran off, tail between her legs. More importantly, is everyone ready to hit the road?"

"Yes, yes, wait up!" Naka said, floating herself next to Ellire at the front of the vehicle. She picked up Dandan's reigns and repeated her clicking noise.

By the time Caito struggled to his feet again, the wagon had almost entirely disappeared into the trees. The boy knocked a bit of dirt from his tunic. Turning around, it occurred to him just how bad the fire Ellire had started really was. With one last look over his shoulder Caito ran back towards the village, willing to help out in whatever way he could.

-x-

The sun had only just started to rise when Kumi's ships arrived on Earth Kingdom soil. A tad off-balance from having been at sea for so long but trying her best to hide it, the Chief of Police paced to the edge of the docks and started off into the distance. A dull gray blanketed the silhouettes of treetops, and what looked like a thick stack of smoke protruded from a portion of them a ways in the distance. Kumi wrinkled her nose and turned to find Blaise standing a little ways away with that obnoxious grin of hers.

"I wonder what happened over there."

"Oh, a fire, most definitely!" Blaise responded, bounding to her side.

Kumi took a deep breath. "Yes, I know that much. I was mostly wondering whether or not our… friends had anything to do with it."

"Ah." Blaise looked back towards the trees in thought. "A bit unlike Ellire to leave such an obvious trail, but it's certainly worth looking into."

"You two!" Two Fire Nation policemen turned their heads in Kumi's direction. "Make sure the ships are being unloaded properly and prepare the troop for the journey on foot. We'll start by investigating the wreckage up ahead. And I do hope that this provides us something useful to go off of," Kumi added quickly in Blaise's direction. "For your sake." On that note Chief Kumi spun around after the two officers.

Atop Blaise's shoulder, Aeron stretched out his tiny wings. You know, I'm getting quite bored of her short temper, the dragon yawned. Perhaps she should stir things up a bit. Tell a badly timed joke from time to time.

Blaise practically snorted at this. "Old Ironfire telling jokes? Yeah, sure, maybe when koala sheep fly!"

-x-

Within an hour Chief Kumi had begun to lead her men inland. Although most of them set out on foot, they had several ostrich horses at their disposal. Three of the creatures carried supplies towards the back of the group while Kumi and Blaise rode theirs up front.

The bright sun was already well into the sky by the time the unusual police squad had arrived at the wreckage. For the most part all of the village's buildings were still standing, save a couple with crumbling rooftops, but the blackened trunks of fallen trees practically littered the ground. A thick layer of gray and white ash coated most surfaces. This was likely the cause of the coughing fits that broke out every so often amongst the troop since they entered the village.

You told me your buddy was a firebender as well, but until now I wouldn't have assumed that meant pyromaniac as well, Aeron muttered, his scale-covered green tail curling around the back of Blaise's neck.

Blaise didn't respond. Perhaps she, too, was a bit taken back by the devastation.

People took notice of the Fire Nation officials outside of their own turf, but ultimately seemed too distracted to do or say anything about it. Finally Kumi came to a halt near the center of the village and dismounted her ostrich horse. The Chief of Police spotted a group of boys, who coincidentally happened to be Caito, Kengi, and Ai, and approached them.

Mid-conversation, the boys fell silent as Kumi caught their attention. For the most part all three of them were nearly a head taller than Kumi, but there was something intimidating about her presence that seemed to keep them from hardly noticing this fact. "How did this happen?" Kumi asked none of them in particular.

The boys' eyes shifted between each other uneasily. "It was a firebender," Ai finally said. "Caito here saw the whole thing. She obviously wasn't from around here, and he was just about to make a move on her when she went rhino bat crazy on him and started shooting up the place with fireballs!"

Caito elbowed Ai in the chest. "I told you, it wasn't like that! It was self defense," he insisted. "We were attacked by two other strangers and she was just trying to get away. I don't think she meant to hurt anyone."

"Y'know, a part of me always suspected your first relationship would go up in flames," Kengi mused. "I just never expected it to be so literal!"

"I'll have you know, you two are actually the worst friends I could possible ask for," Caito whined.

Chief Kumi reached into the side of her ostrich horse's saddle and pulled out a scroll. The Chief of Police then unrolled the object, revealing the wanted poster for Ellire and Naka, and held it out to the group of boys. "The firebender that was here. Did she look like this?"

"Yes!" Kengi exclaimed. "Exactly! That's her and her hot friend!"

Kumi nodded and rolled the thing up again. "And do you know where they were headed?"

"Well, they left on the Eastern road, but no one really went after them," Caito said slowly.

"Yeah, and whose fault was that?"

"Oh, shut up!"

Kumi rolled up the scroll again and placed it back into its pouch. "The Fire Nation thanks you for your assistance. Your accounts have been most helpful."

"Most helpful?" Ai echoed under his breath. "Do people really talk like that over there?"

Kumi was just beginning to mount her ostrich horse again when Blaise quite literally sprung up from the other side of the beast with a toothy grin, startling the Chief of Police. Relaxing again, Kumi climbed onto the ostrich horse and tried her best to ignore Blaise, who immediately began rambling on.

"Look, I know we're kind of on a tight schedule here, but since we're already here and there's this lovely little jewelry store just right over there, I was wondering if perhaps I could borrow a couple-"

Without warning, Kumi kicked her heels into the side of her ostrich horse, causing the animal to charge forward and, in the process, hitting Blaise hard enough in the shoulder as it passed by to nearly cause the girl to lose her footing. Aeron flew up into the air with an unusually audible screech and circled Blaise twice before landing on the top of her head with a low hissing sound. Trying her best not to react to this rude gesture (and obvious power play), Blaise clenched her fists, tight balls of heat beginning to radiate inside of them.

Once she had calmed down enough to grab her own ostrich horse's reigns without melting them accidentally, Blaise mounted it and followed Kumi in the direction of the rest of the Fire Nation troop.

Don't worry, Aeron cooed. Once this is all over you can get even with her as well.

Blaise wrinkled her nose unhappily. If only it were that simple.

-x-

As for our heroes, if they even have the right to call themselves that, Ellire, Naka, and their newfound companion Rei didn't stop the wagon once until the sun was well up into the sky. Starving but too exhausted from the night before to prepare anything, the trio set up camp in broad daylight under the shade of a wide tree.

The area opened up into a small meadow, filled with tall grass and tiny yellow and white flowers. A little ways off a creak could be heard. Alas, the girls were hardly able to enjoy their surroundings due to the fact that they were currently experiencing difficulties keeping their own eyelids open.

Having an easier time warming herself than someone who wasn't a firebender would, Ellire offered up her sleeping bag to Rei, who had none. This gesture even surprised Naka, who hadn't seen her friend do a single thing out of the goodness of her heart in ages.

Cuddling up next to Dandan's thick jackalope fur, Ellire drifted blissfully out of consciousness, entirely unaware of the small army of Fire Nation officials that was already so hot on their trail.


	4. Part 4: Shadows

**阴影**

**Part 4:**

**Shadows**

-x-

Ellire's eyes shot open and she was half surprised to find that she had already been standing. The sky above was almost a pitch black and Ellire swore she could hear wind as it whistled between darkened trees, yet the air felt deathly still. Something about the whole scene gave Ellire the impression that she ought to feel frightened, or lost. But she didn't.

Instead there was something strangely comforting about this place.

A twig snapped from somewhere behind Ellire. She whipped her head around to see a majestic feline surrounded by its familiar purple glow.

"Sol."

The leopard-like spirit's whiskers twitched in amusement. "You remembered."

"It's not every day one gets to meet a spirit," Ellire pointed out. "Also kind of hard to forget such a big cat with eyes like a colored light bulb. So what's the deal? You here to give me another sales pitch or whatever?"

"There is no need," Sol said, his voice deep and soothing. "Your mind has already been made up."

The firebender furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't remember agreeing to anything."

"You are like an open book to me. There is a hunger inside of you that wants to be recognized, admired… even envied."

Ellire squinted. "And… you can make that happen? If I learn this… this 'shadowbending' thing?"

"There are few outside of the spirit world who can harness the power of darkness," Sol purred. "Do not deny that the mere idea of this power entices you."

A silence lingered in the air and Ellire held out the palms of her hands in front of her. They had an eerie orangey-red glow to them. She opened and closed her hand several times before looking back up to meet Sol's eyes.

"What do I have to do?"

-x-

It was still light out by the time Ellire's eyes fluttered open again. She sat upright a tad too fast and blinked several times before being able to see straight. From just behind her Dandan let out a thunderous yawn and stretched out his front paws. Naka and Rei were already up, and she spotted them sitting in the middle of the meadow a little ways away.

"So you came here all the way from the North Pole?" Naka was saying. The airbender was sprawled out on the grass, limbs outstretched.

Rei nodded. "Yup! Rode on the back of my dear childhood friend, Loosha the manatee cow! I'm actually on my way to the Southern Water Tribe right now. Just as soon as I figure out how to pay for the voyage over there, in any case."

"Nice," Naka smiled. "Elle and I are actually new around here as well. Up until a couple weeks ago we living in the Fire Nation."

"Why'd you leave?"

Naka sat up again. "Well. You know that earthbender girl who hired you to hunt us down?"

"Yes?"

"She might be the youngest person we've pissed off, but she certainly isn't the first."

Rei nodded slowly. "I see."

"Hey guys," Ellire said from behind the two benders. Rei and Naka looked over their shoulders to see the girl standing a little ways away. "How long was I out?"

"Ages," Rei answered.

"It's about an hour past noon. The two of us have been starving this whole time, but we didn't want to wake you."

"I think we still have bunch of snacks packed in the wagon," Ellire commented, already starting to circle back. She could've sworn she heard Naka say something back but couldn't make it out and then never bothered to investigate. Back under the shade of the tree, Ellire untied the curtain at the wagon's rear and pulled it aside, only to find a familiar figure curled up on top of the folded stage inside.

Ellire blinked in surprise. "Um… guys?"

But before she had time to explain Jairin's eyes flew open and the earthbender leapt forward, knocking Ellire backwards. In mere seconds the two were back up on their feet and Ellire snapped with both of her hands, igniting them in a ball of flame. She threw several poorly aimed punches in Jairin's direction, who easily ducked out of the way of each of them.

It was at this point that the others realized what was going on. Naka began dashing over, but Rei stayed grounded and swung her arms over her head, summoning forth a sizeable wave from the nearby creek. Unfortunately, this seemed to hurt Ellire more than Jairin upon impact, extinguishing her fiery gloves.

Ellire frowned and flicked her hands out to the side to shake off the water. "Can you not?" she growled.

Rei winced. "Sorry!"

Now it was Naka's turn to lend a hand. Jairin pulled a large chunk of solidified dirt from the ground and hurled in the direction of Naka and Rei, but the airbender quickly knocked it to the side with a large gust of wind. The dirt clump smashed against a tree trunk and crumbled into tiny pieces. Naka then lifted her arm again, suspending Jairin in the air. The younger failed about some, shrieking, "Put me down, you barbarian! That's cheating!"

"What are you even doing here?" Ellire demanded, folding her arms. "I thought we ditched you back at the last village."

"Thought wrong then, didn't you? You betrayed my trust - all three of you - and I'm not going home until I have something to show for it!"

"Well, brownie points for being such a trooper," Naka tried.

Rei bit at her lower lip. "But what are we supposed to do with her now?"

"There's some rope in the back. We could easily tie her up, leave her here…"

"We can't do that!" Naka gasped. "What if no one finds her?"

Ellire shrugged. "Not our problem."

"What if we take her with us?" suggested Naka.

"Why, because you think kidnapping is just one more charge that will look good on our wanted posters?"

"Actually Ellire's got a point," Rei chimed in. "Petty theft and fibbing is one thing, but I didn't sign up for kidnapping."

"...You didn't sign up for anything. You tried to kill us and then for some reason came with."

"Irrelevant."

"Hey, but hear me out," Naka went on. "She's not going to willingly go back on her own, right? So if it comes down to that or leaving her behind and possibly getting her killed-"

"Alright, fine! We'll take her with us!"

Jairin waved her arms in the air, trying to get the group's attention. "Hey! Don't I get any say in this?!"

She was promptly ignored and Ellire went on: "We'll take her with us. Once we reach the next town we'll lie low for a bit so that we don't draw attention to the situation. From there we'll write out a ransom note, have it delivered to Mr. and Mrs. Cole, and hopefully it won't be long before they set up a hostage exchange thing. More money for us, the brat off our hands - it's a win/win situation!"

Satisfied with this decision, Naka released the young earthbender, dropping her back onto the ground with a loud thud. The following half hour was spent wrestling a kicking and screaming Jairin back into the back of the wagon, where she was then bound and gagged.

-x-

After having packed up after lunch, Ellire, Naka, and Rei travelled onward for some time more. The path they were taking through the woods was for the most part quiet, save the crunching of leaves underneath the wagon's giant wooden wheels and Dandan's feet. Occasionally a lizard bird would fly over heard or scurry across their path, but the group felt otherwise alone.

As the sky began to darken the girls pulled over just far enough into the woods to keep hidden from anyone travelling along the path. Ellire lit a small campfire which she and Rei sat cross-legged in front of, having just finished snacking on trail mix (which was unfortunately what the majority of their meal consisted of).

"Y'know, it's kinda nice having someone besides Naka to talk to," Ellire was saying. "I mean, without feeling like I have to lie about what's actually going on, because in my experience that's never been very good for helping build successful relationships."

Rei half-smiled. "So, has is always been just the two of you, or…?"

Ellire began to fuss with her hair a bit before answering. "Well. There used to be someone else, but… I didn't exactly work out."

"Sensitive subject?"

"No!" the firebender shot back defensively. "I can talk about. We just didn't see eye to eye on a few things, that's all. She thought one of us needed to officially take over as troop leader. And... so did I."

Meeting Ellire's eyes, Rei nodded slowly. "I see. I'm sorry you couldn't work it out."

"Hey, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Rei and Ellire looked up to see Naka hovering above them and briefly wondered how long she'd been standing there. "Not at all," Ellire responded. "Come have a seat."

"Great!" Naka immediately plopped down between the two benders with very little concern for how much space was actually available. "So. Um. Do you mind if I talk to you guys about something serious for a minute?"

"You, serious?" Ellire raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, shoot," Rei said over her companion.

Naka took a deep breath before continuing. "Well. It's just that I've been thinking alot lately, and maybe this whole kidnapping thing isn't such a good idea after all."

"You've been talking to the earthbender, haven't you?"

"What? No! Okay, maybe a little bit, but Jairin has a point. I know you're always saying how we're not bad people, we just do what we have to now and it'll pay off in the end, but what if it never ends? What if we keep making the wrong decisions again and again? Forever?"

Ellire didn't answer at first, instead staring into the flickering campfire. "So what if we're the villains in this story?" she finally said. "I've only ever done what I thought was best. For both of us."

Naka frowned. "I'm not saying I want to be a hero or anything, but I'm not proud of what we've become. It even scares me a little."

"Look, I don't have time for your little moral crisis, alright? If you want out then that's on you!" the firebender snapped.

"Don't go putting words in my mouth!"

"Woah woah woah, everybody just calm down for a minute!" Rei interjected, shoving her way in between the two in order to referee the conversation. "You two are like, the closest friends I've ever seen! You can't start fighting now!"

"I'm going to bed," Ellire announced suddenly, standing up. She gestured to the campfire in front of her. "I trust you two know how to put this out when you're done?"

-x-

Chief Kumi and her men had also set up their camp as the sun disappeared over the horizon, although their tents took considerably longer to pitch. Aeron was just settling down on a mat on the floor of Blaise's tent when the firebender came storming in, her whole body hot and glowing with rage.

"I can't stand that infernal woman!" Blaise was saying.

Aeron lifted his tiny head._ Kumi giving you a rough time?_

"Why does she even bother having me around if she won't listen to a single thing I have to say? And on top of that, she even has to go and embarrass me in front of her soldiers! As if I didn't know that they talk about me behind my back already!" Throwing herself down onto the floor, Blaise immediately began shoving some of her belongings into a bag.

_Wait, what are you doing now?_

"Y'know, maybe I've been looking at this whole thing wrong," Blaise explained without looking up from her task. "Ellire and Naka couldn't possibly have known that I was going to get caught right after they left me. And us firebenders, we have a bad habit of getting hot headed, so what if Ellire was just acting in the heat of the moment and regretted it right away, but by then it was too late to do anything but flee?"

_Enough with the puns. What is your point?_

Blaise stood up and slung the back over her shoulder. "Even though Ellire and I didn't get along 100% of the time, Kumi likes me even less than that, and quite frankly, I deserve better than this. I don't want to go back to being alone, but maybe if I sneak out and get enough of a head start I can find Ellire and Naka in time to warn them of what's coming, being the wonderful double agent that I am, and then they'll have to take me back!"

Aeron made a low growling noise in the back of his throat. _They abandoned you out on the streets! Who's to say they'll treat you any better a second time around?_

"Naka cried the night Ellire and I fought. I have to at least try to fix things." Blaise turned to leave but was intercepted by Aeron, who flew into the air and skid to a halt in front of her.

_Coward!_ he hissed. _We talked about this. Just because you're mad at Kumi doesn't mean that her enemy is any less of yours. Also continuing to work with her is the only way to ensure your freedom!_

"I'm sure Old Ironfire has half a mind to throw me in prison regardless of my assistance," Blaise retorted.

_And what about getting revenge on Ellire for what she did to you? If you just come crawling back all that planning will have been for nothing!_

"If I didn't know better, I'd say YOU were the one who wanted to see her dead!" There was a long silence before Blaise sank down to one knee to be more level with Aeron. "Wait a minute… You do, don't you? Has this really been about you the whole time?"

Aeron turned away._ I dislike keeping things from you, but I feared that the truth in its entirety would cloud your judgement._

Blaise narrowed her eyes. "What do you know that I don't?"

_Tell me, Blaise… How familiar are you with dragon prophecies?_

_-x-_

Ellire fell to her knees. "I told you, I can't!" she whimpered.

"Not with that attitude you won't. Now get up and try again."

Not wanting to let Sol down, Ellire struggled to pick herself up again. She positioned her stance just as the spirit had instructed and held her arms out in front of her. A large white moon was shining overhead, casting a long shadow from a naked tree a little ways away. Sol watched intently as the firebender focused in on the shadow. After several seconds of nothing happening her legs began to quiver.

"You are growing frustrated," Sol commented. "Good. Use that anger to draw out the power you are afraid to tap into."

Ellire stopped one foot hard against the ground, sending a jolt of energy shooting through her body. Suddenly, as if being lifted by a set of invisible hands, the tree's shadow peeled itself away from the dirt below. It hovered in the air for a moment like a thin black curtain. Finally Ellire dropped her arms, panting, and the shadow melted back into the ground. She looked to Sol, who gave her a satisfied nod.

Distracted by a throbbing in her head, Ellire didn't even notice the thin stream of blood that had trickled down from the bottom of her nose.

-x-

"So what you're trying to say is… Ellire's gonna be possessed by some kind of demon and break the barrier between the spirit world and ours, killing hundreds of benders and nonbenders alike in the process?"

_Well, evil spirit, but yes._

Blaise slouched her back where she was sitting. "And that would explain why you want me to kill her so bad."

Aeron nodded. _It is the only way to prevent the prophecy._

"And you're absolutely sure that there's nothing we could do to save her? You know, try talking to her about it?"

_The process has already begun. Sol will not be stopped unless his vessel is destroyed._

Blaise rubbed at the back of her neck in thought. "But, you said Sol had tried to pull something like this once before, and that the girl wasn't strong enough to contain his power. How do you know he'll ever stop?"

_He won't,_ Aeron admitted. _Sol is a dark spirit that can be slowed but never stopped. While taking Ellire out of the picture won't keep him from having another in another hundred years or so when he is twice as strong, but it will guarantee the safety of this generation._

"So kind of like putting tape on your favorite glasses instead of just buying a new pair?"

_Something like that._

"I don't know," Blaise sighed. "It seems like an awfully tough judgement call, killing an old friend because of something she hasn't done yet."

_You were ready to do the same just this morning. Why should the truth change that?_

Blaise took a moment to chew on her lip before answering. "Tell you what: I'll stick around until we find her. If Kumi has Ellire locked up, then maybe she'll be useless to this Sol fellow."

_And what if you're too late, and Sol has already taken control of Ellire?_

"Then I'll do what I have to. But unless there's absolutely no other way, I won't fight her."

_Then you are a fool. Innocent blood will be on your hands._

Ignoring the green dragon, Blaise put out the nearby lantern a wave of her hand and the tent went dark. "Goodnight, Aeron."

-x-

For the first time in ages Ellire was up bright and early the next morning. Still thinking about what happened during the night, she had gone down to the creek was was trying, without much success, to recreate the incident with the shadow from a small pile of rocks she'd stacked up.

"Working on a new routine for your magic show?"

Ellire jumped at Rei's voice. "Yes!" she exclaimed, quickly trying to cover up the fact that she'd successfully been startled. "Something like that. Choreographing for Naka is difficult since I can't actually airbend, so if it looked funny, that's probably why."

"Well I thought it looked alright," Rei said. "Hey, did you hit yourself this morning or something? Your nose is bleeding."

Ellire pressed her fingers against her face and inspected the sticky red that came off on them. "That's weird," she muttered, half to herself. "Guess I must've."

"Hold still, I think I've got just the thing!" Rei summoned forth a blog of water from the and brought it close to Ellire's face, who took a step back. "What? Don't you trust me?"

"To be perfectly fair, it hasn't even been 48 hours since the last time you attacked me."

"Technicalities. Now stop moving."

Ellire did so and allowed the floating water blob to press lightly against her nose. It immediately began glowing a fluorescent light blue color. After about a minute Rei threw it back into the creek with a splash.

"How's that feel?" the waterbender asked.

Because Ellire had felt no pain before she hardly noticed a difference, but upon further investigation realized that her nose was no longer bleeding and whatever had been there had now magically vanished. "Impressive," she finally said.

"And that's not I can do," Rei went on, "which is why I think you should let me be in A Touch of Magic! Y'know, since I'll probably be sticking around for some undefined amount of time."

Ellire made a face. "You want to be in our show?"

"Would you like a demonstration?" Rei drew a bit of water up from the creek again and began attempting to show off with it, swinging the element around like some kind of lasso or jump rope.

"Actually a while back Naka and I were talking about getting someone to start the show, like introducing us before we go on."

Without bothering to drop the water back into the creek, Rei just let it hit the ground, her mouth slightly ajar. "What? Are you kidding me? This is pure talent you'd be putting to waste! Just think about it!"

Ignoring her, Ellire made her way back to where they'd parked the wagon for the night and found Naka sitting in front of a small campfire. A flat piece of wood was set up over it and holding several eggs that were cooking. Next to Naka sat Jairin, her hands and feet still tied up, but eating a fried egg with very little difficulty because of it.

"What in the heck do you think you're doing?" Ellire demanded.

Naka looked up and smiled guiltily. "Fraternizing with the enemy? But on the upside, I found some lizard bird eggs and made breakfast! Probably would've gone better on toast, but seeing as we never got around to grocery shopping…"

"How'd you even start the fire back up without Ellire's help?" Rei questioned.

"The embers were still warm from last night. Turns out a little fresh oxygen was all they needed to wake up again!"

"Well aren't you clever."

Ellire folded her arms with a scowl. "Don't change the subject, missy! The plan was to kidnap the kid and hold her for ransom, not treat her like some kind of pet!"

"It's not hurting anybody," Naka said. "Well. In theory."

"If it helps, I never said I wanted to leave your stupid cart," Jairin finally chimed in.

"Look, why don't you stop being so stressed out about everything all the time and eat? You get even worse when you're hungry." Naka used her airbending to lift the two remaining eggs from the fire and float them onto a couple plates that she had pulled out of their mesh kit. Holding one in each hand, she held them out to Rei and Ellire, who eventually did accept the plates.

"Mm, this is quite good," Rei muttered upon taking a bite without using any silverware.

"Yeah, well, I've had a bit of practice," Naka said. "Ellire isn't allowed to cook for us because more often than not she burns all of our meals."

"Naka!" the firebender shot back angrily.

"What? It's the truth, isn't it?"

Ellire took a deep breath. "Never mind. Be ready to leave in another hour or so. The sooner we get back to civilization, the sooner our babysitting shift ends and we earn enough to treat ourselves properly." Ellire took one last bite of her meal and set the plate down before walking over to the wagon and fussing about with Dandan's reigns.

"She's not always this bad," Naka promised Rei. "She's just been under a lot of stress lately."

"Is this about what happened with Blaise?"

"No, of course not! Well, partly, I suppose. But that happened months ago and… Wait, who told you about that?"

The waterbender gestured over to the side of the wagon, where Blaise's name had been burnt out. "Wasn't hard to guess."

Jairin let out an exasperated sigh. "So am I just invisible, or…?"

"Quiet, you."

-x-

The group was on the road again shortly. The general consensus was that all was going well when Naka suddenly spotted something in the distance and stood up, pointing. "Look over there!" the airbender exclaimed. "It's another person!"

"Sit down before you fall out and we leave you behind!" Ellire threatened, pulling Naka back down by the back of her shirt.

"Looks like he's having road trouble," Rei commented from atop one of Dandan's antlers.

Sure enough, they were approaching an elderly man at the side of the road. Next to him and partially blocking their path was an overturned wagon, similar to their own, and a rhinoceros horse. The man waved out his arms desperately as the girls got closer and stopped several feet in front of him.

"What's the matter, sir?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Ellire groaned half to herself. "Now we're doing favors for strangers, too?"

"It's my wagon," the man explained. "I hit a bump in the road and it snapped, and now I'm stranded here!"

"Well I don't know what you expect us to do about it," Rei admitted. "I mean, I suppose we can give you and your… friend here a lift, but you'd have to leave the cart behind. Also I'm pretty sure you'd have just as much luck riding the rhinoceros horse instead."

The large beast snorted in response.

The three benders dismounted and Ellire crouched down to take a look at the damage. "Are you sure it's snapped? Because all the wheels look just fine to-"

She was cut short, however, by the sound of a handful of men jumping out from where they'd been hiding behind the trees. Wearing dark greens with their faces hidden behind a mask, the group made a circle surrounding the girls. Ellire straightened her back with narrowed eyes. The older man pulled out a scrap of cloth from his back pocket and tied it around his head, revealing an identical mask.

"Well, well," Rei smirked. "Unfortunate as this is, you have to admit that it's quite an interesting turn of events, given the circumstances."

"Take out whatever coins and jewelry you have on you and bring them here," the man instructed.

"We haven't any wealth on us," Ellire said.

"Don't be difficult. Although my men don't look armed, I assure you, each and every one of them is tough as rocks. Literally."

Ellire hummed. "Playing all the same cards, now, are we? Personally, I prefer to combine talents. Adds a bit of variety. Plus, less blind spots."

The gentleman squinted. "I don't think you quite understand the situation you've stumbled into. You're being robbed by wanted men!"

"No, sir. YOU are being robbed by a wanted WOMAN."

He frowned, and Ellire pointed towards Naka, who had tiptoed outside of the ring of robbers and was currently helping herself to as much stolen jewelry from the inside of the highwayman's overturned wagon as she could fit around her wrists and neck. Naka looked up slowly, gave a guilty smile, and waved. "Nothing to see here!" she exclaimed. "Go back to threatening each other! I'm doing fine!"

The old man let out an angry grunt and thrust his foot down. Almost immediately the earth began to tremble, and Ellire reacted by planting her feet firmly into the ground and launching a jet of fire in the man's direction. He then ducked, the plume of hot ember roaring over him, and came charging towards her. Fists now encased in gloves of solid rock, the man threw a punch at Ellire, hitting her square in the chest, knocking her back. Ellire recovered with a quick backwards summersault and sprung to her feet, only to see two fist sized boulders hurtling through the air towards her. Ellire expertly dodged one rock but the other violently slammed into her shoulder. She cried out in pain as the momentum flung her to the ground.

The man snorted in triumph as a dust cloud formed where Ellire had fallen. But as the dust began to rise it obscured the man's vision to the point of which he could not see Ellire any longer. Only when it was too late did he notice the streaks of orange and red that glowed in the gritty shot out at him viciously, searing his chest, and the man let out a surprised cry as they carried him back a couple of feet.

Ellire emerged from the cloud patting off the dirt that had clung to her already dirtied clothes. She smiled and returned the man's triumphant snort all the while mentally preparing herself for a counter-attack.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang had turned on Naka and Rae. Fighting with their backs pressed together, the two benders tooks turns whipping at the highwaymen who came too close with their respective lassos of water and air. The swarm of bandits prodded Naka and Rae's tight formation as if looking for a weak point in their form to exploit in their own attacks. And every time the raiders attacked the became harder and harder to fight off.

"There's too many of them!" Naka called back to Ellire.

Ellire clenched her jaw and tried to keep from panting. "You don't think I know that!"

Ellire continued to trade blows with the man until Ellire summoned her anger. She concentrated on the pain in her chest and shoulder from the hits she had taken moments earlier and sent a wave of flame hurtling at the man. The man crouched and sent up a wall of rock to shield himself from the torrent of fire.

Suddenly Ellire's opponent spun around and started running away from the brawl. Her confidence boosting, Ellire chased after him. The man then leapt onto his rhinoceros horse and began charging back the way he'd come and straight towards Ellire. Ellire's eyes widened and she let out a yelp, switching to defensive in an attempt to outrun the creature that was quickly gaining on her. When it was just about upon her Ellire hit the ground.

To her surprise, Naka had come to her aid from atop Dandan, who rammed his antlers into the rhinoceros horse's side, gouging the rhinoceros horses thick hide and sending the man and his mount toppling over. The ground shook harder than before. Ellire scanned her eyes across the battlefield, noticing that their cart had been turned on its side. The bender's attention was drawn in again to her current situation when she felt a tug at her arm.

"Ouch!" Rae squealed, recoiling.

"Sorry," Ellire apologized and picked herself up. "I have a bad habit of overheating when I'm stressed out."

"So I noticed. But never mind that, we've got to get out of here! We're outnumbered!"

Just as the waterbender said this, three of the highwaymen approached them. The group sent a large crack tearing through the ground between where they stood. Upon hitting the trunk of a tree, the plant made a snapping sound and came crashing down. Rae and Ellire dove out of the way just in time, narrowly avoiding its collapsing branches.

"Follow me!" Naka called out, dashing past them on Dandan's back. "I've got an idea!"

"Famous last words," Ellire grumbled. She struggled to keep up with her friend nonetheless. Within a couple seconds the girls came upon the edge of a steep canyon and skid to a halt. "Alright, what's your brilliant plan?" the firebender demanded.

"I can fly us across," explained Naka. "Not all at once, of course, but if we hurry maybe…"

Rae's face fell dramatically. "We're all gonna die."

"You two go," Ellire instructed.

"But what about you?"

"I have to get something from the wagon, and I need to borrow Dandan to get it."

Rae rolled her eyes. "Forget the stupid cart! You're not going to be able to get it away from them at this rate anyway!"

"Allow me to rephrase: I have to get someone from the wagon," sighed Ellire. Naka and Rae exchanged horrified looks of realization. Without waiting for a response, Ellire traded places with Naka on Dandan and took off away from the ledge.

"C'mon," Naka urged, gesturing for Rae to climb onto her back.

"Alright, I'm going to trust you, but so help me-"

-x-

Ellire reached the overturned wagon just in time to see a couple of men looting through it. Feeling anger bubble up inside of her, Ellire threw both of her arms forward. Upon doing so a dark shadow expanded from underneath the wagon, giving the ground below a quicksand-like consistency, so that the strangers sunk to their knees, screaming out in surprise and quite possibly pain. Ellire came closer and caught sight of Jairin, who was still inside of the wagon but pinned beneath bits of the folded stage.

While saying nothing, Ellire hopped off of Dandan and grabbed at the rope around Jairin's wrists. When she let go it snapped apart, its ends now blackened. Dandan seemed to realize what was going on and used his antler to hoist the stage off of Jairin. The earthbender had just crawled out when the ground shook once more. The girls both looked to see that the earthbenders had also freed themselves.

"Time to go," Ellire breathed, helping Jairin onto Dandan behind her.

Multiple large cracks had begun to form in the shaking earth, breaking apart the ground below as they hurried to get further and further away from them. As Ellire and Jairin got closer and closer to the canyon, however, the attack became even stronger. The two of them could just about feel the cliff crumbling beneath them. Dandan inched back a couple of steps to avoid the chunks of rock that were piecing off towards the very edge.

"Hold onto my waist," instructed Ellire.

Jairin made a face at this. "Pardon?"

"Just do it!" Ellire shouted back, tightening her grip on Dandan's antlers. Jairin did so reluctantly, and Ellire took Dandan back another foot or so before dashing forward again. Just as they reached the end the giant jackalope lept into the air and Jairin shrieked, clinging on tighter. Mere seconds after they had taken off of the ground a good portion of the cliff collapsed, sending an avalanche of rock tumbling down into the canyon below.

Dandan kept the benders suspended in the air for several seconds before hitting the ground and rolling onto his side. Jairin and Ellire flopped off of his furry back. Ellire, not waiting to see if Jairin was willing enough to use her earthbending to redirect the onslaught of boulders, immediately formed a dome of flames over the three of them. Her arms shook, struggling to force the barrier to hold against the avalanche. Several golf ball sized rocks managed to slip through, smashing into the ground dangerously close to the three of them.

The fire shield was starting to shrink slightly and even more rocks and pebbles broke through it. Clouds of dust and debris had begun to fill the air, stinging at Ellire's eyes. Ellire took a deep breath and pushed out the flames again. This time, however, a blackish layer of something seemed to line up against the innermost part of the curved wall, supporting it. Now nothing seemed to be getting through and, after waiting another minute or so for the sound of falling rocks to stop, Ellire released her hold on the barrier and plopped down onto her back with big, uneven breaths.

The dust cleared away slowly, revealing a clear ring around the trio where the majority of the the avalanche was unable to reach. Jairin lifted her head from where she'd been curled up in a tight ball next to Dandan. "Whelp. That was surprisingly badass," she said, blinking in surprise. Ellire didn't reply, and Jairin tried again: "By the way thanks for… you know, what you did back there. Honestly, I didn't think you guys would come back for me."

"I'm not very good at doing the right thing," Ellire managed, "but at least I think that was it?"

Jairin smiled. "I suppose so. It's a real shame about your wagon, though."

Ellire shut her eyes and frowned. "Too soon," she moaned.

"Do you think they're gone?" Jairin asked, standing up and staring up at where they'd just come from.

"I suppose they think we're gone," Ellire shrugged. She sat upright and cracked her knuckles out in front of her. Only then did she notice the little rings of half-dried blood that had formed around each nail. Not wanting Jairin to see for some reason, Ellire pulled her hands back in and began wiping them off with the bottom of her skirt.

-x-

"Can you see? Are they alright? Did they make it out?" Naka squeaked, wrapping herself tightly around Rei's arm.

"Yes, look, they're fine!" Rei snapped, using her head to nod towards the canyon below and her free arm to try and pry the airbender off of her.

"Oh thank god!" Naka exclaimed. She dropped to the ground, kneeling at the edge of the cliff and waved down at her friend. "Ellire! Ellire, over here!" she yelled.

"Naka!" the tiny firebender called back to her. "Do you see the earthbenders that attacked us on the other side?"

Naka looked up and scanned the horizon for the highwaymen, but they seemed to have all vanished. "Nope!" she yelled through cupped hands. "Hey, should I float down there and get you guys?"

"That would be much appreciated! But, what about Dandan? How would you manage to carry him?"

Naka's face fell when she put two and two together. "Yeah, I can see how that would be problematic," Rei said. "Too bad he's not a flying jackalope or something."

"Well, I can get you two up easily enough, but what should we do about Dandan? We can't leave him!" shouted Naka.

"Hold tight!" Rei yelled from over Naka's shoulder. "We'll try and get help!"

-x-

"So that's it, then?" Jairin asked. "We're trapped here?"

"Just for the time being. Unless, of course, you've suddenly remembered that you know how to make a giant staircase out of the wall?"

Jairin bit at her lower lip. "Um. I don't think I've had enough training to pull of something like that. I mean, throwing around rocks that are light enough to carry myself or shooting a single spike up from the ground, sure. But a staircase of that size… I mean, maybe if I kept at it for a couple days, and took a break every couple of steps…"

"You could've just said 'no'," Ellire sighed. "In any case, if we're going to be spending a bit of time here together, can I have your word that you're not going to try and kill me again?"

Jairin chuckled. "Well. You robbed my house, then ended up losing the closest thing you guys have to an actual home… I don't know. I guess we're pretty even."

"In that case, I suppose after we get out of this mess you're free to head on home," Ellire announced.

"What?" Jairin looked much more alarmed by this that Ellire would've anticipated. "You can't send me back now! We've already bonded! Plus, everything's so much more exciting out here! Action, adventure - do you realize how bored I was back there? And this way, I get to travel around with real professional benders! How cool is that!"

Ellire folded her arms. "Are you seriously suggesting that all this revenge business was just a big ploy to get out of the house?" Jairin smiled at Ellire guiltily. Ellire glared back. "You're a little shit. You know that, right?"

"So I've been told. Is that a yes?"

"Well it's true. And do I have much of a choice?"

"Not really. No."

"Figures."


End file.
